


Dino Thunder: Generations

by Marcus_S_Lazarus



Category: Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Power Rangers, Power Rangers Dino Thunder
Genre: F/M, New Ninjazords, Shogunzords Return, Time Travel, Tommy Oliver VS Tommy Oliver
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-11
Updated: 2020-04-11
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:34:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 21
Words: 69,724
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23596942
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Marcus_S_Lazarus/pseuds/Marcus_S_Lazarus
Summary: The return of the evil Green Ranger, coupled with a trip to the past and a meeting with the original Power Ranger team, brings Conner and Kira together in ways that they never thought possible
Relationships: Kira Ford/Conner McKnight
Comments: 9
Kudos: 24





	1. Return of the Green Ranger

**Author's Note:**

> For 'Dino Thunder', this is set shortly after 'Fighting Spirit'; for the Green Ranger, it's just after he was given control of the Dragonzord but before Rita's spell was broken, and for… nah, you'll find out when I get there

Smiling as he walked back into his house, Tommy stretched casually as he stared around his bedroom.

He had to admit, it was good to be out of his Ranger costume at long last. True, it had been good to get the chance to stay off work for a while- he couldn't even _remember_ the last time he'd had a decent holiday since he recovered the Dino Gems and found employment at Reefside- but he still didn't regard it as a real _holiday_ when he couldn't even _eat_ normally…

He shuddered slightly at the memory. He'd never been that keen on needles- too many times finding himself at the wrong end of the claws of some monster or another, he assumed- and that intravenous drip he'd needed to use to eat had definitely _not_ been fun.

And as for how he had been forced to go to the toilet…

He stopped himself before he went too far; he did _not_ want to go there anymore.

 _Still_ , he thought to himself, as he reached over to a nearby drawer and took an old folder out of it, _at least it gave me a chance to think on things_.

Specifically, on the time when he had become Earth's first Green Ranger and nearly destroyed the others.

He hadn't told it to anyone else at the time, but, in some ways, Trent's presence had helped him to deal with his remaining feelings of guilt about that time of his life. After all, after all the time the team had spent convincing _Trent_ that none of them blamed him for what he'd done while he'd been under the control of the white gem's evil, why should he keep blaming himself for what he'd done in a similar positon?

Removing the contents of the folder, he smiled slightly as he spread them out before him. It was all a mass of clippings from the _Angel Grove Times_ from his days with the original Ranger teams, each one detailing the Power Ranger's battles with the monster of the day, with an extra article when a new Ranger or zord was introduced, and particularly long articles when the Rangers had gone from their original costumes to the Zeo Rangers, and then to the Turbo Rangers, followed by the articles written about the Space Rangers.

There were articles about the later Ranger teams as well, of course, but he mostly kept them in another folder, along with the contact numbers of the other Red Rangers following their mission to destroy Serpentera. He had maintained an interest in the Ranger teams ever since he left the role, of course, but ever since the Space Rangers retired, he'd felt less of a… _connection_ to the teams, he guessed was the best way of putting it. After all he no longer really knew anyone in the teams; it was hard to feel connected to someone when you'd never met them, even if you had several things in common.

Staring at one of the first articles in the folder, detailing the Rangers' defeat of Goldar shortly after the destruction of the Sword of Darkness, Tommy smiled wistfully at the memory of how the article had come to be published.

It had been the first real interview the Power Rangers had ever given; previous news articles about them had just been written from an outsider's perspective, since the Rangers were reluctant to spend too much time associating with reporters in case they said something that may lead to someone working out who they really were. However, with Tommy now a member of the team, and with all the anti-Green Ranger sentiment that was flying around the city, the Rangers had decided that now was as good a time as any to break that rule and set the record straight.

After fighting off Goldar's latest attack with the Dragonzord in Battle Mode (His attack seemed to be a random one for no real purpose other than trying to get revenge on the team for depriving Rita of her greatest weapon), Jason and Tommy had contacted the offices of the _Times_ and agreed to give an interview. The reporters had only been too eager to take the Red and Green Rangers up on the offer, and the interview had been a resounding success; the papers had sold more copies that day than ever before.

"Doctor O.?" a voice said from the door of the study.

"Mmm?" Tommy said, glancing back over his shoulder and smiling as Conner and Kira walked in, looking at the articles before him in surprise. Noting the ease with which they had entered so close to each other, Tommy chuckled slightly; for some reason, Conner's attitude towards Kira had been reminding him of himself back in his early Ranger days…

Specifically, the way he'd always acted around Kimberly before Zack had managed to knock some sense into him.

He still couldn't quite understand why some people _still_ believed that Kira was interested in Trent. Sure, she'd been interested in him at first, but she seemed to have cooled off on him after his decision to run away so he couldn't endanger anyone rather than stick around and ask the Rangers for help. If he'd really wanted to cure himself, Kira reasoned, he should have come to them for help; the Rangers in general, and Hayley and Tommy in particular, knew more about the Dino Gems than anyone else alive.

But just running away like that… as though he didn't want to risk their rejecting him because of what he'd done under the gem's control, rather than take the chance and letting them help him…

It must have struck Kira as the mark of a coward. Even now, Trent hadn't bothered to fully explain or apologise for running off back then; he'd just joined the team and hadn't even mentioned anything about his time under the gem's control.

Even Trent's new membership of the team couldn't make up for his earlier behaviour, and Tommy couldn't exactly blame Kira. For all the similarities he saw between Trent and himself, Tommy had to admit that he preferred the idea of Conner getting the girl. The young man had come a long way from the arrogant, selfish boy he'd been when he'd first found himself with the role of the Red Ranger, and Tommy had the feeling that Conner would go on to make him proud, both as a Ranger and as a person. He and Kira would make a good couple, if only they'd admit that they had feelings for each other…

Shaking his head to bring himself back to the moment, Tommy noticed Conner studying the news articles relating to the Green Ranger as Kira read them over his shoulder.

"Whoa…" Conner said, as he glanced over at Tommy in surprise. "How come you never _told_ us that you once grew to the size of a Megazord?"

Tommy sighed as he glanced over at his two fellow Rangers, a downcast expression on his face.

"It's not exactly the kind of thing I like to think about, Conner," he explained, as the Red and Yellow Rangers leant against a nearby wall as Tommy turned in his chair to look at them. "After all, I _did_ nearly destroy the Dinozords; if Zordon hadn't come back when he did, the others would have been powerless against Rita's larger scale attacks. It's not the kind of memory I'm proud of, as you can guess."

"Yeah, we both know that, but still, wasn't it even _slightly_ cool to be that size?" Kira asked, looking inquiringly at her science teacher. "I mean, even if you don't like remembering what you were _doing_ at the time, that's not the kind of thing that happens every day, right?"

Tommy smiled thoughtfully as he looked at Kira.

He couldn't deny that she had a point; it _had_ been rather interesting to be that size. True, he preferred to think of the second time he'd been grown to the size of a zord, when Trey had given him and the other Zeo Rangers the power to grow to giant size to battle King Mondo and the other members of the Royal House of Gadgetry for the final time, but there was something about that first time that still stayed in his memory…

* * *

On a distant island off the coast, the half-man half-dinosaur known to all as Mesogog smiled to himself as he watched the images unfold on his monitor.

"So, Oliver still has concerns about his time as the Green Power Ranger…" he mused to himself, tapping his nose thoughtfully with a claw. "This may prove useful to me…"

Standing up, he walked over to a nearby console, and began to tap on a few buttons as he studied the readouts. This particular machine was one of his earlier attempts to revert humanity to the age of the dinosaurs. Inspired by an old episode of that British science-fiction serial _Doctor Who_ \- the episode, known as _Invasion of the Dinosaurs_ , had starred Jon Pertwee as the Doctor and been released in 1974, as Mesogog vaguely recalled-, he had attempted to use a time machine to pull some dinosaurs into the present. With the dinosaurs active nowadays, they could then go on the rampage and destroy the humans in the world, before settling down and breeding more dinosaurs to bring the world back to the peace and simplicity of those long-lost days.

Unfortunately, the machine had proven ineffective at achieving its intended purpose; tests had shown that it would only work in taking something from the past that still existed in the present, and even then Mesogog had required a DNA sample of the creature in question, even if just when searching for a random animal rather than a specific individual. Mesogog had hoped that the existence of the biozords may have allowed him to pull those dinosaurs into the present, given that the biozords were technically alive, but this hope had been dashed; it evidently didn't count if the creatures were now mainly mechanical.

But the Green Mighty Morphin' Power Ranger… the past self of Doctor Oliver himself; a man very much alive in this time and place, _and_ whose DNA sample Mesogog held after he had captured Oliver while seeking to unlock the power of the Black Dino Gem…

Now _that_ was a different manner.

And, if Mesogog recalled the history of the Power Rangers correctly, the Green Ranger's zord was still active in this time; the other five had been 'recycled' into the Thunderzords, which had then been destroyed, but the Dragonzord had simply stopped coming out for combat for reasons unknown. All he had to do was scan back along the timeline until the moment when the Green Ranger had been given the means to control the zord, but before the spell that had been cast by Rita Repulsa had been broken, and then…

Mesogog smiled.

He'd enjoy seeing how the Rangers coped with _that_ little problem…

As he watched the image unfold on the screen before him, resembling a video being rewound while the image played back on a TV screen, Mesogog's finger hovered over the button to pause the scan, watching the blinking button that indicated the presence of Oliver's DNA in the time in question. There was a couple of brief moments where the machine seemed confused, but Mesogog dismissed them easily enough; he recalled records of a few instances where time around Angel Grove had been manipulated, and there had also been that incident where there had been some kind of clone of the Green Ranger active that had battled the White Ranger.

 _And if those are taking place, I must be getting close_ , Mesogog smiled to himself. The screen seemed to be getting there… he could just see four robots on the screen- a blue Triceratops, a black Mastodon, and a yellow Sabre-toothed Tiger running towards a large green Dragon-… the dragon was fighting a red Tyrannosaurus… the Green Ranger was standing on a building as he taunted the other five Rangers…

Instantly Mesogog halted the reverse scan, and smiled as he saw the Red Ranger raise one hand in a pleading gesture as he yelled up at the Green Ranger.

" _Tommy, stop!_ " the Red Ranger yelled desperately. " _You don't know what you're doing!_ "

The Green Ranger only seemed to stare scornfully at the other Rangers as he raised the Dragon Dagger and the Sword of Darkness. " _I'm destroying you!_ " he yelled back at his foes. " _And I'm doing it because my empress commands. Soon, she'll rule the world!_ "

The Green Ranger began to laugh evilly, and Mesogog seized his chance. He pressed the button that would activate the transfer…

And then, as though he had always been there, the Green Ranger was standing in the centre of the control room, his weapons in his hands, looking in Mesogog's direction, confusion and rage evident in his body language.

"Who are you?" he demanded, raising the Sword of Darkness to point it in Mesogog's direction. "And why have you summoned me here? I have not fulfilled the demands of my Empress-"

"And be assured, I shall send you back to attend to that," Mesogog said, attempting to smile at the Green Ranger in a reassuring manner. He may be regarded as evil, but he was not stupid; if he did not send the Green Ranger back in time, how could Tommy Oliver aid Anton Mercer in the experiments that would culminate in the explosion that created him? There were no guarantees when time travel was involved, but Mesogog had to be sure he affected his immediate past as little as possible; he would have to give Elsa orders to develop a means of erasing the Green Ranger's memory once he had defeated the Rangers, to avoid the Green Ranger acquiring foreknowledge that would affect the history Mesogog knew.

"I have called you here to provide me with aid in a little… problem… of my own," Mesogog explained, trying to avoid giving the Green Ranger too much information; the less he had to erase, the better. "I have been dealing with a team of Rangers- much like the ones that have posed so much trouble for the Empress Rita- for nearly a year now, and have, to date, been unable to defeat them. However, I have been monitoring the situation in Angel Grove, and have been favourably impressed by your skill in fighting the Rangers you are acquainted with. If you are willing, I would appreciate your assistance in vanquishing these Rangers for me; should you accept, I shall then return you to your battle with the other Rangers once my foes have fallen."

"And should I decline?" the Green Ranger asked, lowering the Sword of Darkness as he looked at Mesogog, although the Dragon Dagger remained ready in his other hand.

Mesogog shrugged; he may as well continue to play the flattery card for the moment. As much as he hated even _pretending_ to bow down to another, he had to make the Green Ranger believe that Mesogog venerated Rita just as much as he did, otherwise this latest plan would be over before it had even started.

"Should you decline, I am, of course, in no position to force you," he assured the Green Ranger. "If you do not wish to help me, I shall merely send you back to fight the other Rangers and attempt to handle this myself."

The Green Ranger looked at Mesogog, his posture making it evident that he was thinking on the monster's proposition, before he nodded in agreement.

"Very well; I shall aid you," he said, after a moment's pause. "Any Power Rangers that exist will inevitably come to oppose my Empress; it is best that I should eliminate them now before they become aware of my presence."

He looked sharply at Mesogog. "Am I still capable of accessing the Dragonzord in this location?"

"Of course," Mesogog said, nodding at the Green Ranger. "However, I would recommend you not use it until you have engaged the Rangers; there is no point in alerting them to the full extent of your powers until you are ready."

The Green Ranger chuckled. "That sounds excellent," he said, nodding in approval. "I shall _definitely_ enjoy this…"


	2. Clash of the Generations

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In the combat scene, if the Green Ranger seems a little weaker than he was in 'Green With Evil', I'm assuming that Rita gave Tommy a significant amount of information about the Rangers that he was able to use in combat, but since he knows next to nothing about the Dino Thunder Rangers, he's not quite as effective against them as he could be. Besides, the Dino Thunder team has probably had a few fighting lessons from Tommy, and that guy _has_ learned a few things since he was the Green Ranger, so it shouldn't be surprising that the Dino Thunder team know a few tricks that the Green Ranger is ignorant of

When the attack took place, Kira was barely able to believe what had happened to Doctor O. as he talked with her and Conner in his study. One minute they were idly talking about Doctor O.'s past as a Ranger (They'd moved on from the Green Ranger and were now discussing his time with the Ninja powers) when suddenly Doctor O. threw his head back, screaming in agony as black and green energy rippled around his body, and then he collapsed to the floor, still twitching slightly from the energy that was running through his body.

"Doctor O.!" Conner yelled, as he and Kira leapt over to their teacher's side, looking at him as his body jerked and flexed slightly with the green-and-black lightning that suddenly seemed to cover his body. Reaching out, Kira checked their mentor's pulse at his neck (The lightning didn't appear to affect them), and looked up at Conner in relief.

"Pulse seems OK; at least whatever happened to him didn't have too major an effect on his health," she said to her friend, as the two of them hauled their teacher onto their shoulders. "We'd better call Hayley; maybe she'll have some idea of what's going on."

"Yeah, that sounds good," Conner said, as he pulled out his cell phone and dialled the number of their resident technical expert. "Hello, Hayley? Sorry to bother you, but we've got a problem… no, we're fine, it's just that Doctor O.'s had some kind of attack… He's breathing, but I think you should take a look at him…"

Nodding gratefully, he terminated the call and looked over at Kira. "Get him down to the Dino Lab; Hayley said she'd meet us there."

Nodding gratefully, Kira turned her steps towards the stairs that led down to the basement of Doctor O.'s house, grateful that their 'command centre' was so easily accessible. It may not have been as elaborate as that possessed by some of the past Ranger teams- hell, one team had possessed their own _spaceship_ \- but at least it didn't take you ages to get to it from wherever you were originally.

* * *

A few minutes later, Conner and Kira were standing behind Hayley as she tapped away at the computer before her, studying the image on the screen. It showed a CGI picture of Tommy's body, taken from the scans Hayley had made of him as soon as she had arrived, and he currently lay unconscious on the medical table behind them; he still twitched from the green and black 'lighting' that crackled around him occasionally, but otherwise he seemed to simply be asleep.

"So… what's wrong with him?" Conner said to the Cyberspace owner after a few moments' silence. "Some kind of after-effect of that coma he was in earlier?"

"No, this is unconnected," Hayley said, as she studied the monitor nervously. "I could be wrong, but it almost looks like…"

"What?" Kira asked, as Hayley trailed off mid-sentence. "What does it look like?"

"Well… like there's _another_ power source trying to overwrite the power of the Dino Gem," Hayley said, shaking her head sceptically as she studied the readouts. "There's a small amount of extra power in his body; not enough for him to use it to morph, but there's definitely something there."

Sighing, she leaned forward, staring at the screen in annoyance and confusion, her chin in her hand. "If it wasn't for the fact that Tommy gave it to Jason, and he's well aware of the risks of using it, I'd _swear_ the green power coin is behind this…"

"What?" Conner said, looking at Hayley in confusion. "The _green_ power coin? As in, Doctor O.'s _first_ power coin? But it was totally drained in its last fight; isn't that why Doctor O. became the White Ranger? How could there be _any_ energy left to cause this?"

Hayley shook her head. "For one thing, the coin energy wasn't totally lost in his last battle," she explained, looking back at the Red and Yellow Dino Rangers. "The coin was _almost_ drained after the destruction of the Green Crystal and Turbanshell, but Tommy demorphed before the power was totally lost; there wasn't enough energy left in the coin to full a complete morph, but it might still have been theoretically possible for another Ranger to use the powers on top of their own if they needed a boost. He gave it to Jason- the original Red Ranger- as a memento of him, but that was the last time Tommy saw the coin."

"What; you mean Jason never used it?" Kira asked in surprise, as she looked curiously at Hayley. "I would have thought something like that would have been a great backup in a fight."

Hayley shook her head. "Not really; the coin would have been useful, but it only had enough power for a couple of fights left in it, so it would have had to be used sparingly. Jason wouldn't have used it unless all other options were exhausted, and he never got that desperate during the remainder of his career as the Red Ranger."

She sighed slightly as she leaned back from the monitor to talk to the others. "It was generally recommended that he didn't use it, anyway; apparently, Zordon was worried that the use of the coin by someone else, when it had never actually _left_ Tommy, may have an averse reaction with Tommy's current powers. He sometimes speculated that weakening his White Ranger powers may have been part of Rita's scheme when she created a clone of the Green Ranger, but it didn't work; she wasn't actually using the power coin Tommy had given up, so the only physical effect on Tommy was being slightly weakened due to his clone taking some of his energy, rather than an actual drain of his Ranger powers."

"Ah…" Kira and Conner said, nodding in mock understanding as they looked at each other; they'd followed some of that, but decided that it wasn't worth pursuing the matter further. Besides, Ethan would probably be able to explain the parts they weren't sure about when he and Trent arrived.

"So, what? Someone's used the green power coin for some reason and it did… that to Doctor O.?" Conner asked, deciding he might as well see if he actually _had_ understood what Hayley had just told them.

Hayley shook her head. "No, I took readings of Jason's two power coins when Tommy and I were reconstructing the Tyrannosaurus morpher for the Red Ranger mission to destroy Serpenterra," she explained, turning back to look at Tommy. "It had a fair amount of energy left in it, but the green coin didn't have enough power available to it to have this kind of effect. At best, if it was being used at the moment, it should just leave Tommy feeling disorientated while the power was in use; for it to achieve this kind of effect on him, it would have to be at full strength, and there's no way for that to happen."

"Then-" Kira began, when suddenly the monitor gave a sharp beep.

"Incoming message from Ethan," Hayley said, as she tapped the relevant keys and the Blue Ranger's face came up on the screen, Trent standing beside him.

"Guys, turn on the TV; you have _got_ to see this!" Ethan said, sounding nearly hysterical. "We have a _serious_ problem!"

"Uh… OK," Conner said, as Hayley tapped a few buttons to split the monitor screen between Ethan and Trent's communication and the current news broadcast….

Their jaws dropped in horror at the sight.

Standing in the middle of Reefside's main street, shooting up cars with energy beams that were being fired from a dagger he held in one hand, and slashing at any police officers who tried to get close to him with the sword he held in the other hand, was…

"The Green Ranger?" Conner and Kira said in horror, as they turned around to look back at the medical table just in case Doctor O. had somehow vanished while they were distracted and had somehow gone evil for some reason…

But no.

He was still there, his head twitching now and again as the energy sparked around him, although it seemed to be getting briefer now; apparently his body was adapting to whatever was happening to it.

Hayley clicked her fingers as inspiration apparently struck.

"Of _course_ …" she said, as she turned to look back at Ethan and Trent. "See if you can get there before he does too much damage; Conner and Kira will join you in a moment."

"Uh… right," Ethan said, looking at her in confusion. "Well… see you there, guys," he added, waving weakly at Conner and Kira as he terminated the connection at his end, leaving his team mates looking at their technical expert in confusion before Hayley beat them to it.

"Look, before you ask, I don't know _how_ this is happening," she said, in response to their confused expression. "However, until we know anything else, we should proceed on the assumption that this is _not_ just a 'clone' of Tommy back in the day when fighting him; in other words, until we know more, just try and just disarm that 'Green Ranger' without actually killing him, OK?"

Conner and Kira nodded in agreement.

"Right then," Hayley said, as she turned back to her monitor, "you two had better take the Raptor Cycles to join Ethan and Trent; I'll see if I can figure out a way to wake Tommy up so he can help you guys out."

"Right," Conner nodded, as he and Kira stepped back into the centre of the room, flicking their wrists slightly to activate their morphers.

"Dino Thunder, Power Up! Hah!" the two teenagers both called out, their right hands flying to their left wrists to tap the controller that had just appeared there. Instantly a blazing white light surrounded them, and then they were clad in the red and yellow costumes of the Dino Thunder Rangers.

As they ran for the Raptor Cycles, Hayley turning back to the screen to study the information about Tommy's condition, she could only hope that they made it in time. If her immediate theory about the nature of the Green Ranger tearing up downtown was correct…

She shuddered nervously at the thought.

 _We are in_ serious _trouble…_

* * *

Running through the streets of Reefside, unwilling to wait for the Raptor Riders or ATVs to reach them instead, Ethan and Trent glanced nervously over at each other as they heard a loud explosion from very close to their current location; evidently, the Green Ranger wasn't very far away now.

"Time to morph?" Trent asked, glancing over at Ethan nervously.

Ethan swallowed at his friend's query, his face betraying his anxiety. After all, whatever their opponent was- clone, look-alike, robot- the prospect of facing the evil Green Ranger was _not_ a pleasant one. After all, the Green Ranger had nearly destroyed the _original_ Rangers, and they'd had the benefit of training from a being several thousand years old; how would _they_ manage against this one, no matter how he'd come about?

Ethan shook his head, already ashamed at himself for thinking negatively. After all, they hadn't even seen this guy in battle yet; he was getting worked up for no good reason…

"Oh… sorry 'bout that, Trent," he said, glancing over at his friend apologetically. "Yeah; let's do this."

Flicking their wrists to activate their morphers, Ethan smiled as he issued the familiar command "Dino Thunder, Power Up! Hah!" and felt the strength of the Blue Ranger flow through him.

"White Ranger Dino Power!" Trent added, as his own costume covered him.

Glancing over at each other, the two friends nodded briefly before drawing their weapons and charging around the corner…

Coming face-to-face with the Green Ranger, as he spun around to glare at them, arrogance evident in his stance.

"So, _you_ are the Rangers who protect this location?" he asked, looking at Trent and Ethan critically. "I'm not impressed."

"Trust me; you're not much to look at either, Greenie," Trent retorted, drawing the Drago Sword and pointing it at the Green Ranger. "I mean, if nothing else, the armour looks _ridiculous_ ; how is _that_ meant to provide any protection?"

The Green Ranger chuckled. "Mighty words from such a pathetic foe," he said, as he raised his weapons, glaring at Trent and Ethan. "Perhaps you'd care to _eat_ them!"

Instantly he charged towards Trent and Ethan, lashing out with the Sword of Darkness in a powerful slash that sent Ethan flying backwards, and may have done the same for Trent if the White Ranger hadn't intercepted it with his own blade.

Glaring at the Green Ranger under his helmet, Trent swung the Drago Sword around in a 360 degree turn, causing his foe to briefly relax his hold on the Sword of Darkness as it lost its position against the White Ranger's weapon. The distraction was only brief, but it gave Trent the chance to kick out at the Green Ranger and send him staggering back. Outraged, the Green Ranger began to move forward for another attack, but the sound of a blade hurtling towards him from behind prompted him to turn around, intercepting Ethan's Thundermax Saber with the Sword of Darkness as he lashed out with the Dragon Dagger, which Ethan only just managed to catch on the Tricera Shield before it hit him.

"Smart move," the Green Ranger hissed angrily at Ethan.

"I had a good teacher," Ethan replied, trying to sound casual despite the strain he was feeling; given that his weapon's main combat use was defensive, unlike the others, he generally only fought his opponents hand-to-hand, or at least with the blasters. He knew basically what to do in a sword fight, but the Green Ranger was evidently more experienced at this sort of thing, and he had greater physical strength than Ethan anyway…

Spotting Trent attempting to sneak up on the Green Ranger, Ethan smiled slightly in relief; all he had to do was keep the Green Ranger occupied until Trent could get in close enough, and then…

The Green Ranger, apparently sensing that something was behind him, lashed out with the Dragon Dagger in Trent's direction, sending the White Ranger flying back as the weapon struck his armour. Ethan tried to take advantage of his opponent's distraction to lash out with the Tricera Shield- maybe he could use the point on the end as a basic weapon or something- but as soon as he diverted his focus to the shield, his already fragile grip on his saber relaxed and the Sword of Darkness sent him flying backwards once again as it struck him in the shoulder. Rolling with the blow, Ethan managed to land on his feet, a quick glance revealing that Trent was still standing as well, but both of them were weakened by the recent blows, while the Green Ranger still appeared as fresh as the proverbial daisy.

"Is that the best you have to offer?" he asked, 'glaring' arrogantly at the fallen Rangers. "I was expecting a better challenge than _this_."

"How about now?" another voice yelled from off to one side. "Tyranno Staff!"

"Wha-" the Green Ranger began as he turned in the direction of the voice, only to be met by a rapid blow to the neck from the weapon that had just been summoned by the latest arrivals to the combat.

"Conner! Kira!" Ethan said, smiling as his teammates helped him and Trent back onto their feet. Then his face fell as a suddenly worrying thought occurred to him. "Uh… where's Doctor O.?"

"Back at the lab with Hayley," Conner said reassuringly; he evidently knew precisely what his friend was concerned about. "Something seems to be affecting his Dino Gem and knocked him out, but other than that he's fine."

Ethan sighed in relief; at least he knew he didn't actually have to fight his teacher right now, even if the guy seemed to have Doctor O.'s old powers…

As the Green Ranger began to get back onto his feet, Conner came to a decision as he glanced at this new foe.

Whoever- or _what_ ever- this guy was, they had to put him down _fast_ , before anyone else got hurt. What Conner was about to attempt was risky, but he was fairly sure their opponent wouldn't be too badly damaged. After all, if the _original_ Green Ranger could go up against the first Power Rangers in their Megazord- while still normal-sized- and survive getting hit by a blast from them, than surely this guy could survive the Dino Thunder Rangers with their main weapons?

"Quick, guys; bring 'em together!" Conner said, glancing over at Kira and Ethan as he raised the Tyranno Staff. Quickly understanding what he meant, Ethan and Kira quickly passed him their weapons, the Rangers combining their tools into the Z-Rex Blaster. Trent, on the other hand, simply stood off to the side and pointed the Drago Dagger at the Green Ranger; without Doctor O. to contribute the Brachio Staff to the Blaster, nobody was sure if Trent's weapon would combine with the others, and they weren't willing to risk it.

"Fire!" Conner yelled, as the Z-Rex Blaster instantly fired energy at the Green Ranger, Trent hurling laser arrows at their foe as well…

But, to the Rangers' horror, the Green Ranger simply raised the Sword of Darkness and, somehow, managed to absorb the majority of the energy fired at him into the blade. A few of the laser arrows still struck him, as did some excess energy from the blaster, but otherwise the Green Ranger appeared unharmed.

 _Great_ , Conner thought to himself, as he quickly stopped firing the Z-Rex blaster and Kira and Ethan took their weapons back. _What do we do_ now _…?_

"Hah!" the Green Ranger laughed at the Dino Thunder Rangers, all four of them instantly raising their weapons in preparation for another attack. "Did you honestly think _that_ would be enough to stop a loyal servant of the Empress Rita?"

 _RITA?_ Conner thought in shock, glancing over at Kira in confusion. _I thought Rita was_ dead

There was _definitely_ something else going on here that they didn't know about…

"Now, prepare to feel the wrath that her power allows me to deliver!" the Green Ranger cried, as he raised the Dragon Dagger to his 'mouth'. "I call on the power of the mighty… _Dragonzord_!" he yelled, as he blew a few notes on the flute.

For a moment or two, nothing appeared to happen, and Conner smiled under his helmet. Evidently, whoever was behind this hadn't planned it very well; the Dragonzord was all the way down in Angel Grove! Even if this guy _could_ control it, it would take-

A loud roar from the direction of the coast made Conner instantly reassess his original estimate down to seconds.

"Oh no…" the Red Ranger muttered to himself, as he and the other Rangers turned to look in the direction of the roar.

It was the last thing they wanted to see.

Standing there, towering above the buildings around it, its eyes blazing red as its black and silver shoulders, green neck, and silver and gold chest-plate gleamed in the sun, its long grey tail stretching out behind it, was the zord that Doctor O. had been proud to call his own after first becoming a Power Ranger.

The Dragonzord.

 _This isn't good_ …


	3. Dragonzord Power

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If the Dragonzord seems to be able to stop the Dino Thunder Dinozords with greater ease than when it was pitted against the original Dinozords, take into account that both the Dragonzord and the other Zords at that time were the product of advanced alien technology, while the current Dinozords are the product of merely human technology; even if the technology is remarkably advanced for the present, it is still not quite in the same league as the original Zords

As the Dragonzord began to advance down the street, the Green Ranger leaping up onto a nearby building with his dagger/flute in his hands (The better to watch the battle, Conner supposed), the Red Ranger quickly raised his Dino Gem to his wrist.

"Hayley, we need the Zords, and fast!" the Red Ranger yelled into his communicator, his voice only slightly tinged by an edge of panic at their new situation.

" _I'm on it_ ," Hayley replied from the lab. " _The Brachiozord's already on its way under remote control; Tommy's still unconscious, but I'm fairly sure he'll be awake soon. In the meantime, keep the Green Ranger busy, and try to at least take the Dragonzord out of commission; even if our green 'friend' gets away this time, he can't attack the city on his own if his zord's out of action_."

Nodding in agreement, Conner terminated the radio link, and, glancing down the street, was relieved to see the Brachio-Zord already heading towards them; they'd need all the help they could get right now.

"OK guys, usual drill," Conner said, glancing around at the others as the Tyrannozord, Pterazord, Tricerazord, Dragozord and Stegozord leapt out of the main carrier zord, all five of them heading towards their respective Rangers. "Form the Megazords, double-team the guy, and put Dragonzord down before anyone else gets hurt."

Nodding once at each other in confirmation, Conner, Ethan, Kira and Trent then leapt into their Zords, the Steogozord running below the Dragozord.

Smiling under his helmet, Conner initiated the combination sequence, and soon the Tyrannozord, Pterazord and Tricera zord had combined into the Thundersaurus Megazord, the Dino Stegozord standing beside it as the two new Zords faced the Dragonzord.

" _Ha_!" the Green Ranger's voice cried out; glancing over, Conner saw their opponent standing on top of a nearby building, glaring at them with an air of contempt. " _Is this the_ best _you can do? Only_ two _'megazords'? The Dragonzord will destroy you_!"

"Not a chance, buddy," Conner said, as he turned his attention back to the large zord facing them, already trying to come up with a plan for facing it. Doctor O. hadn't really discussed the strengths and weaknesses of the past Zords in any great detail, but based on what he could see, the Dragonzord's main weapon seemed to be that big tail and its large teeth. Based in that, their best move was probably to use the Dimetrozord against their foe; the Dimetro Saw Blade could cut the tail off, and then they could probably finish the Dragonzord off with a few quick blows without having to destroy anything. Even if it was probably safe to blow up the Green Ranger's _zord_ without worrying about the consequences- after all, with the Dragonzord still intact to the best of Conner's knowledge, doing anything else to bring it here would have been stupid- Conner would prefer not to; after all, it _had_ once belonged to his mentor, regardless of its origins.

"Hayley!" Conner yelled into his communicator. "Dispatch the Dimetrozord!"

" _Right_!" Hayley replied, as the top part of Brachio opened up and the pale blue form of the Dimetrozord leapt up. As it appeared, the Tyranno-Drill detached itself from the main Thundersaurus Megazord, to be replaced by the large circular saw of the Dimetro Saw Blade. As the Thundersaurus turned back to face the Dragonzord, Trent's voice appeared over the intercom.

" _Good move, Conner_ ," he told his friends. " _Mind if I use the Parasaurzord to provide some back-up_?"

"More the merrier," Ethan said, as the green zord leapt out of Brachio- Hayley had evidently been listening to the exchange- and latched onto the Dino Stegozord's left arm.

"All right then, Greenie," Conner said, as the two Zords turned back to face the third, "time to cut you down to size! Dimetro Saw Blade!"

" _Parasaur Final Cut_!" Trent added, as the two Zords charged towards the Dragonzord…

Which just raised its hands and, after a few brief musical notes that seemed to come from the Green Ranger's dagger, fired five missiles at each of the Zords, sending them staggering backwards from the sheer power of the blast and stopping the attacks before they could even reach their intended target.

"Whoa!" Kira said in shock, as she and the others regained their feet. "What was _that_?"

" _Dragonzord missiles; one of Dragonzord's more interesting weapons_ ," Hayley said over the communicators. " _Sorry I didn't tell you about them earlier; I forgot that the Dragonzord could do that_."

Conner sighed in frustration, even as he knew that it wasn't Hayley's fault; with Doctor O. in the state he was in, was it any wonder she forgot a few details about something that hadn't been active in over ten years?

"It's nobody's fault, Hayley," he assured her, as he shifted the Thundersaurus into a position to strike again. "Don't worry; he caught us off-guard that time, but we'll be rea-"

The next word was drowned out in an explosion as another round of missiles was fired at the Rangers, striking the Thundersaurus Megazord with such force that the Tricerazord arm fell off the main zord and collapsed to the ground in its individual form, twitching slightly as it smoked from the damage.

"Tricreazord!" Ethan cried in horror as he stared at his zord. "NO!"

" _Ethan, send the Tricerazord back to Brachio_!" Hayley yelled over the speakers. " _It can't fight in that condition; you need to try something else_!"

Evidently glum, Ethan nodded resolutely.

"OK…" he said, staring sadly at his zord as it began to hobble back towards Brachio, to be met halfway by the oncoming Ankylozord.

"Well, at least _this_ is something…" Conner smiled, as the orange zord leapt onto the Thundersaurus Megazord to replace the Tricerazord. Ethan had to admit, Conner had a point; the Blue Ranger may prefer the battles where his own zord was used, but he was mature enough to acknowledge when you had to be practical. Right now, with the Dragonzord's firepower up against them, the Ankylozord, with its function to serve as a shield as well as a drill, was the best weapon they had to use against the Dragonzord.

" _Trent_!" Hayley added over the speakers, " _you should give the Cephalazord a shot; you'll need all the firepower you can get to put the Dragonzord down_!"

" _Right_!" Trent said, sounding resolute as the purple form of the last auxiliary zord leapt out of Brachio and ran over to the Dino Stegozord, latching onto the white-and-pink zord's right arm as they turned back to face the Dragonzord.

" _Hah_!" Green Ranger laughed from the building where he was watching the fight, as the three Zords began to circle around, each one waiting for an opening to attack. " _You honestly think that these_ pathetic _Zords will be sufficient to save you? I am the Green Ranger, given power by the Empress Rita herself! Nothing can stand against me_!"

"Really?" Conner asked, glaring back at the Green Ranger over the viewscreen. "Well, we'll see about _that_! Ankylo Drill power, now!"

* * *

As the Thundersaurus Megazord lunged forward, the Ankylo Drill spinning in front of it, Trent was only barely able to see what had happened from his position in the Dino Stegozord. As the White Ranger watched, unable to do anything for fear of striking his friends, the Dragonzord reached out, grabbed the Ankylo Drill in its hands, and then somehow spun around with a speed that belied its large bulk, sending the other zord crashing into the street with a force that rubble flew up around the powerful zord.

Seizing his chance while the ancient zord was distracted, Trent charged forward, the Dino Stegozord already ready to strike.

"Cephala Power Punch power, _now_!" Trent yelled, as the zord's right arm charged towards the Green Ranger's powerful zord, striking the zord in the chest plate just as it turned around to face him.

"Take _that_ , sucker!" Trent smiled. "And while I'm at it, let's see how you handle this; Parasaur Final Cut!"

Just like he had attempted to do earlier, Trent lunged forward with the scissor-like weapon on his zord's left arm, aiming for the Dragonzord's tail, praying that he could at least take its more _obvious_ weapon out of the equation before any further damage was done…

And then the Dragonzord lashed out with a tail swipe that went right over the Dino Stegozord's attempted attack and struck the zord in the face. As the Dino Stegozord fell back into a nearby building, the Dragonzord charged forward, grabbed its foe by the Parasaurzord arm, and bit down hard on the arm in question.

"NO!" Trent cried in horror as the front end of the Parasaur Scissors broke off in their foe's jaws, rendering that zord inoperative as a weapon.

"Retreat!" Trent cried to the Parasaurzord, as he lashed out with a powerful punch from the Cephalazord, sending the Dragonzord staggering back as the green Dino Zord detached from the main Megazord and, like the Tricerazord before it, began to limp back towards Brachio.

As Trent forced the Dino Stegozord back onto its feet, raising the Cephalozord arm in preparation to attack, he was relieved to see the Thundersaurus Megazord back on its feet, staring at the Dragonzord as it turned to look at its two opponents, an expression of what could be fear on its face as it did so.

" _Sorry about the delay, Trent; the gyroscopes were a bit damaged_ ," Kira said apologetically, as the Thundersaurus raised its Dimetrozord arm, already beginning to spin as the Dragonzord turned to look at it. " _Anyway, Mr Lean Green Machine, try and walk away from this! Dimetro Saw Blade_!"

"Cephalo Power Punch!" Trent added, as the Dino Stegozord drew back its arm to launch its own blow…

Then, with a move that took its two foes totally by surprise, the Dragonzord leapt up into the air in the few moments before the blows struck home, leaving the two Zords with no time to stop their attacks as their blows struck each other.

"NO!" the four Rangers cried simultaneously, as the Dimetro Saw Blade dug into the Cephalazord even as the purple zord left a massive dent in the circular saw, sending both Zords flying back, their respective zord weapons now damaged beyond use for at least the immediate moment.

Hearing a maniacal laughter coming from nearby, Conner turned his head to glance at the viewscreen, and wasn't surprised to see the Green Ranger was the source of the laughter, looking at the fallen Zords with a mocking glare.

" _Do you surrender yet, Rangers_?" he asked them harshly. " _Or are you going to keep fighting until I_ destroy _your pitiful excuses of Zords, rather than just knock them about a bit_?"

"No chance, buddy!" Conner retaliated, as the Thundersaurus staggered back onto its feet, the Ankylo-Drill supporting the damaged Dimetro-Saw as it looked in the direction of the evil Ranger. "We still have a few tricks up our sleeve. Trent, take Dimetrozord and Celphazord and get the Dino Stegozord out of here!"

" _But-_ " Trent began.

"GO!" Kira yelled at the White Ranger. "Conner's right; we need to make sure that we've got at least _one_ Megazord to act as backup to take the Dragonzord out! You've got both the necessary Zords in good condition; you need to get out of here before that changes!"

For a moment, Conner thought Trent was going to protest, but he didn't; the Din Stegozord simply turned around and ran back to the Brachiozord, cradling the damaged Cephalazord in its hands as the damaged Dimetrozord limped after them, leaving the Thundersaurus Megazord with only the Ankylo- and Tyranno-Drills for defence.

" _You're slipping, Rangers_!" the Green Ranger laughed, as the Dragonzord rounded on the Thundersaurus once again. " _Is this the best you have left; a couple of measly_ drills?"

"Care to repeat that?" Conner asked, glaring at the Dragonzord in front of them. "Ankylo Double Drill attack!"

As the Thundersaurus Megazord raised its arms, the drills began to spin rapidly, and then it charged forward, both drills aiming at the Dragonzord, whose only move to halt the other zord was to raise its hands and catch the drills there. The drills kept on spinning, biting into the hands of the Dragonzord, but the green zord seemed to not even care about the damage; it just glared at the Megazord and lunged forward, sending it flying backwards with such force that both drills were bent nearly ninety degrees in opposing directions.

 _NO_! Conner thought to himself, as the Thundersaurus crashed back into the road once again. _This can't be happening… this_ can't _be happening_!

But he knew that it was.

And they only had one more weapon left to try….

Then, to his amazement, the Green Ranger blew a few notes on the Dragon Dagger, and the Dragonzord stopped attacking them, turned away, and walked back towards the ocean.

" _I could have killed you, Rangers, but as the situation stands, you're barely worth the effort_!" the Green Ranger yelled down at them, his zord already sinking back to the sea as he taunted his old foes. " _I'll leave you to lick your wounds for now, but be warned! I'll be back, and then you'll_ all _feel the impact_!"

Then the Green Ranger leapt up into the air, turned into some kind of green energy, and vanished, leaving the Rangers to separate the Thundersaurus Megazord into its various damaged components and limp them back into the Brachiozord.

* * *

"So, let me get this straight; we've got the Pterazord, the Brachiozord, and the Dino Stegozord, and that's _it_ for almost a _week_?" Conner asked, staring at Hayley in shock once all four Rangers were back in the Dino Lab (Doctor O. was, unfortunately, still unconscious, but Hayley assured them she was working on a way to help him regain consciousness). "That's _never_ going to be enough against the Dragonzord!"

"Couldn't we try the Mezodon Rover?" Ethan asked, looking at Hayley inquiringly; the Rangers were all still morphed, having seen no reason to power down just yet, although they had all removed their helmets for comfort's sake. "I mean, it's still intact, right? There's no _way_ the Dragonzord can handle _that_ sucker!"

"Unfortunately, that's not an option," Hayley explained, as she turned to look at the Blue Ranger. "The Mezodon Rover is, unfortunately, rather like the Triassic Ranger himself; it can only operate by 'leeching' a slight amount of energy from the three main Dinozords to power itself. Given the state that the Tyrannozord and Tricerazord are in at present, they can't spare the energy, so the Mezodon Rover is, unfortunately, out of commission until they're up and about as well."

"Great," Kira said, looking at the Cyberspace owner in annoyance. "So, basically, Conner was right; we're screwed."

"No, we're not," Trent put in, waiting until the others were looking at him before he continued. "If I've learnt anything from my time with you guys, it's that we should never say die until we're dead. We may be out of luck for the moment, but there must be _something_ we can do, right?"

Hayley shrugged as she turned back to her computer. "Well, there might be _something_ …" she said, a thoughtful expression on her face as she began to pull up some files and quickly read them. "It's a long shot, but if I remember Tommy's stories of his Ranger days…"

She had just opened her mouth to say something else when she stopped, staring at the text file she'd just pulled up, and smiled.

"Perfect."

"What?" Kira said, looking at the older woman curiously as the Rangers walked over to look at what she was reading. "You've found something?"

"Well, it _might_ be something," Hayley said, as she looked back at the Rangers. "You know about Tommy's time as the first White Ranger and the Zords he controlled at that time, right?"

"Yeah," Conner said, nodding in confirmation. "Tigerzord, Falconzord, and the White Shogunzord, right?"

"Correct," Hayley said, smiling briefly in approval at Conner before turning her attention back to the Rangers as a whole. "Anyway, the key thing about those Zords is the fact that, while the power that controlled them was lost, the Ninja and Shogun Zords were never actually _destroyed_ ; it was simply that, with the destruction of the power coins while time was turned backwards, there was no longer any way of accessing them."

"And this helps us… how?" Trent asked.

"Simple, really," Hayley said, as she turned back to the computer and, after tapping a few keys, pulled up a large map onto the screen, indicating a system of caves around a mountain, the location of the mountain in question more than slightly obscure at the present.

"This," Hayley said, indicating the mountain, "is the current location of the Orb of Doom, the mystic artefact that was used by Master Vile to turn back time in his attempt to destroy the Power Rangers once and for all. It was destroyed due to the sheer power required to cast the spell, but when time reset itself, the Orb was reconstructed…"

And here Hayley smiled as she looked back at the others, evidently pleased with herself for this part of what she was about to tell them. "And, best of all, it still contains the energy signatures of the power coins that were destroyed in the simulated past it created."

"Eh?" Trent said, looking at Hayley in confusion. "How's _that_ possible? Shouldn't the power have just… I dunno, gone back to wherever it came from?"

"Normally, yes, but these were hardly normal circumstances," Hayley explained, as she looked around at the other Rangers. "Thanks to Vile's actions with the Orb, when time was restored to normal, it… _reset_ itself, for lack of a better term, to shortly before time had been turned back in the first place, but at the same time, it couldn't undo some of the more serious actions that had occurred on Earth during the simulated past, such as the destruction of the power coins. With nowhere else to go, the energy was simply contained in the Orb, and nobody thought it worth bothering about."

"Why not?" Conner asked.

"Well, after the Machine Empire arrived, Rita and Zedd didn't really have much chance to track the Orb down and use it for their own ends against the Rangers," Hayley explained, her eyes briefly glancing over at Tommy with a concerned expression before she turned back to look at the Rangers. "As for all the subsequent villains… well, the Machine Empire, Divatox, and Astronema didn't use magic on a regular basis, so it wouldn't have been much use to them even if they _could_ find the Orb. Angel Grove was too far from Mariner Bay, Turtle Cove, and Blue Bay Harbour for Queen Bansheera, Master Org and Lothor to be bothered about looking, even if they _had_ known about its existence, and Ransik and Trakeena are just like the first three; too science-based to even _try_ to find the Orb, never mind use it."

"I see…" Ethan said, nodding thoughtfully as he turned over what Hayley had just told them in his head. "So… how does this help us?"

"Simple," Hayley replied, as she turned to look at Conner and Kira. "You two go down to Angel Grove to get the Orb, I take a few scans to determine the energy frequency of the energy that was once stored in the power coins, and from there…"

She shrugged. "Well, hopefully, I'll be able to slightly adjust the Dino Gems to allow you five to summon the Shogun Zords before the Green Ranger tries another attack."

"The Shogun Zords?" Trent said, looking at Hayley in surprise. "Why not the Ninja zords?"

Hayley shook her head. "This plan has more chance of working if the power colours are compatible," she explained, indicating the gems by way of explanation. "If I tried to link the Pink Crane Ninjazord to, say, the _White_ Dino Gem, there's a good chance the Crane's power would reject the Gem because the colours don't 'match'. At least with the Shogunzords the colours of the Zords match the colours of the Gems we possess; it would be difficult whichever Zords we used, but at least this way I have a better chance of succeeding."

"I see…" Ethan said, continuing to nod thoughtfully as he listened to Hayley.

"So, why are Conner and I going?" Kira asked, deciding she might as well address the last issue facing them. "Apart from Trent, I'm the only one left with an active zord; shouldn't I stay here to help Trent deal with the Dragonzord if it attacks again?"

Hayley shook her head. "No, I considered all possibilities, and you two are the best for retrieving the Orb," she told the Red and Yellow Rangers. "We need Trent here in case we need the Dino Stegozord while you're gone, of course, and I'll be needing Ethan's technical expertise in case I need any assistance in repairing the Zords. Conner's a good fighter in case something comes up, but I'd still prefer him to have back-up if the need arises, and you're the only person available."

Conner nodded in agreement as he glanced back at Kira.

"Gotta admit, she's got a point," he said to the Yellow Ranger. "Besides, I can't imagine anyone else I'd want at my back in a fight."

Kira seemed about to make some biting retort but, realising what Conner had just said to her, just smiled slightly at him.

"Thanks," she said simply.

"You're welcome," Conner replied. Then he glanced over at Hayley, stopping Trent and Ethan from getting a word in. "So, how do we get to Angel Grove? Raptor Cycles?"

"Seems like your best bet," Hayley replied, as she turned back to her screen. "At least the Cycles look relatively inconspicuous at the brief glance that would be all that people would see of you at that speed; the Raptor Riders would attract too much attention."

"Right then," Conner said, as he looked back at Kira and picked up his helmet. "Let's go; the Green Ranger isn't going to wait very long."


	4. Setting the Stage

As Mesogog watched the events of the Green Ranger's battle with the Dino Thunder Rangers unfold on his screen, he couldn't contain a slight smile at the sight before him. He'd known that the Dragonzord was powerful, of course, but to actually _see_ it in action like that, beating up the Ranger's precious Dinozords like they were flies…

It was all progressing far, far better than even he could have planned.

Then, much to his annoyance, the Green Ranger didn't bother to finish the job and just left the Rangers to lick their wounds.

 _Damn_! Mesogog thought to himself as he watched the Dragonzord march back into the sea, leaving the Green Ranger to vanish into the ether as the Rangers gathered their strength and walked away. He briefly thought about trying to contact the Green Ranger, but decided he shouldn't push his luck; the Green Ranger was hard enough to control as it was, he didn't want to risk making a new adversary.

Still… the Rangers _would_ pose a problem, even without their Zords; the Z-Rex Blaster alone could be enough to destroy some of his monsters if they used it properly. If only there was some way he could get some of them on their own…

Then his eyes fell on the scanner that he used to track the Rangers, and his eyes widened slightly as he noticed two signals leaving Reefside; the Red and Yellow Rangers, according to the frequency of the energy readings.

Mesogog couldn't contain another small smile at that sight.

 _Perfect_ , he thought to himself. He may have no idea as to _why_ those two Rangers were leaving Reefside, but if it got them on their own, then he could hardly complain. After all, with just two of them, the Red Ranger couldn't become the Triassic Ranger to deal with any problems that might arise…

And he _did_ still have one evil Ranger whose loyalty he could totally depend on.

"Elsa," he said, opening a communication channel to his cyborg second-in-command, "the Red and Yellow Rangers have left town for unknown reasons; dispatch the White Ranger clone to pursue and eliminate them while they are isolated from the other Rangers."

" _Of course, my lord_ ," Elsa replied over the speakers. " _On the topic of the Rangers… forgive me for my curiosity, but_ -"

"Was I responsible for the presence of the Green Ranger and his attack on the Dino Thunder Rangers?" Mesogog asked, raising a critical eyebrow despite the fact that Elsa couldn't see it. "Indeed I was; it was a difficult piece of work, but I feel that the end result was indeed worth it. Now, dispatch the clone as soon as possible; we must eliminate the other Rangers before they realise we are aware of their departure."

As he settled back into his chair, Mesogog grinned slightly at how well things were progressing. True, things weren't quite finished yet, but his last attack had greatly weakened the Rangers, the Black Ranger still appeared to be incapacitated, and soon the Red and Yellow Rangers would fall before his own Ranger.

All that was needed was the death of the Rangers, and everything would be complete…

* * *

Mesogog could not have known that, outside his fortress, looking at him with malice that was evident despite the fact that the individual in question should have been incapable of displaying any emotion whatsoever, was his former associate Zeltrax, once known as Terrance 'Smitty' Smith.

After the destruction of his Aerial and Terran Assault Vehicles by the Mezodon Rover and the Black Ranger, Zeltrax had nearly been destroyed in the resulting crash, but had managed to claw his way out of the wreckage, albeit with a great deal of damage. Having spent some time alone to try and recuperate, he had now begun a new, independent mission from Mesogog; to take the Dino Gems for himself, and then, with the power that they would give him, conquer the Power Rangers once and for all, followed by the destruction of Mesogog with his own bare hands.

And if he got Elsa in the process…

If Zeltrax's head had been capable of such an action, he would have smiled.

Well, that would be a welcome bonus.

Nodding in resolution, Zeltrax stood up from the window that he'd been squatting outside and walked back towards the small hovercraft that he had used to get here. Based on the Hovercraft Cycle that had recently come into the possession of the Blue Ranger, the cycle could cover both land and water in an extremely rapid amount of time, and had enough weaponry on it to go up against _any_ of the Rangers, regardless of what they were using against him.

At least, that was the way Zeltrax had designed it; he was keen to test it this time around.

And once he'd done that…

Zeltrax chuckled.

Once the Red and Yellow Dino Gems were in his possession, Zeltrax had a very _personal_ score to settle with the newest arrival to Reefside.

He wondered if the Black Ranger would just disappear after the Green Ranger died, or if the effects would be somewhat more… _dramatic_ than that.

* * *

Several miles away, and about an hour after the events on Mesogog's island fortress, as Conner and Kira hurtled along the motorways towards the mountains outside Angel Grove, the Red Ranger looked at his teammate's yellow-clad form beside him, and couldn't stop himself sighing in a slightly wistful manner under his helmet.

He'd tried to deny it to himself ever since it started, mainly because he had no idea _what_ he'd do about it in the first place, but for a while now, pretty much ever since the two of them had become Rangers, he'd rapidly begun to develop more-than-friendly feelings for his female teammate. He'd done the best he could to deal with it- especially after Trent had joined their side; she was clearly more interested in their new White Ranger as opposed to him- but he couldn't deny it for much longer.

He was in love with Kira Ford.

He didn't just _like_ her; he loved her.

And every time Trent so much as _looked_ at her like he was thinking of asking Kira out, he couldn't shake off the desire to pound the White Ranger's face in…

But he couldn't do that.

If Kira cared about Trent, then he'd be prepared to deal with it.

He would always be the outsider in _that_ relationship…

Just like he was always the outsider where Kira was concerned.

He would be many things to her; the guy in red, the field commander when they faced the bad guy, the school 'jock', the guy with the Triassic Shield…

He could be all those things to her, but he would never be her boyfriend.

All because he'd waited too long and allowed a berk in white to get there ahead of him…

 _God, I'm such a_ mess… Conner thought to himself as they rounded another corner on the road to Angel Grove.

But there was nothing he could do about it now; he would just have to grin and bear it.

And try and get over his near-overwhelming desire to challenge Trent to a zord battle with the Dino Stegozord versus the Mezodon Rover, if for no other reason than to feel as though he'd beaten the guy at _something_ on his own…

* * *

On the opposite side of the road from her friend, unaware of the turmoil going on in his mind, Kira Ford looked over at Conner as he stared ahead at the road before him, evidently focused on their current mission, and sighed wistfully to herself.

 _If only he could pay that much attention to_ me…

Kira could never quite recall a time she _hadn't_ had feelings of some sort for Conner McKnight. At first, it had just been the typical schoolgirl crush; he was the high school jock, and she was the lone outsider who didn't really fit in with any of the 'established' social groups. Conner had been the obvious choice for a crush; cute, popular… the usual crap… while still being out of her league to an extent that assured her nothing would ever take place.

Then they'd become Rangers, and she'd started to appreciate the side of him that could actually be serious about things; the side of him that didn't always have to focus on how to play his next game, and could actually care about something other than his old dreams, taking responsibility for the dangers faced by his friends and the monsters sent by their enemies…

And then, almost before she even knew it, she was head-over-heels in love with him, and she couldn't do a thing about it.

After all, why would he care about her _that_ way? Sure, they were Rangers together, but that aside, what did they really have in common? She spent her free time singing in a coffee shop; he spent his time playing out on the soccer fields.

Hell, even their _Zords_ were drastically different; Conner commanded the freakin' _Tyrannosaurus Rex_ , and what did she have? The Pterodactyl.

OK, the flight thing was cool, but it still wasn't exactly the most powerful dinosaur out there, was it?

But Conner… his zord practically _defined_ their dinosaur-based powers. Even little kids knew what the T-rex was; how many would, off the top of their heads, know what the pterodactyl was? Hell, some kids probably couldn't even _pronounce_ it…

She might as well just give up now; there was no way that Conner would _ever_ care about her that way.

 _Besides_ , a part of her thought to herself, _there's still Trent_.

She couldn't deny, the White Ranger would be quite a catch. he was a good fighter, pleasant company, easy to have a conversation with, wouldn't get put off by her secrets, genuinely seemed interested…

And he wasn't Conner.

That was it, really; he wasn't the Red Ranger.

And he would never be. If nothing else, the fact that Trent had run away after the Dino Gem's influence began to turn him evil was a point against him; she preferred people who were big enough to accept help, rather than try to do everything on their own.

Maybe that was one reason she felt that the Triassic Shield suited Conner so well; it helped to emphasise to him the fact that he didn't have to do _everything_ himself…

Then, noticing a road sign that said that Angel Grove was only a few miles away, Kira broke off her train of thought and turned her attention back to Conner, who was studying the map Hayley had given him with as much concentration as he could while still looking at the road ahead.

"Turn right!" he called out back to Kira, as the Raptor Cycles spun around in the relevant direction and began to tear up the mountain roads, heading for the caves where the Orb of Doom had been concealed, neither Ranger aware of what had been going through the other's mind for the last miles of the journey.

* * *

A few minutes later (The speed of the Raptor Cycles still amazed the Dino Thunder Rangers at times), the two Rangers stood at the door of the cave where Master Vile had cast his spell all those years ago, staring at the cave before them as they reflected on the pivotal moment of history that had taken place here. After all, if it weren't for the Orb of Doom, the Alien Rangers would never have visited Earth, the Zeo Rangers would never have come into existence, Tanya Sloan would never have joined the team to before the third Yellow Ranger…

Overall, the cave didn't really measure up to all that.

"Woah…" Conner muttered sarcastically to himself as he stared at the scene in front of him. " _This_ is impressive."

"What, you were expecting something more fancy?" Kira asked, looking back at Conner critically. "After all our battles in quarries and on the streets, what made you think that we'd encounter something cool this time round?"

"Well, come on, this guy was powerful enough to turn back _time_ , for crying out loud!" Conner said, as they walked further into the cave as they talked. "Couldn't he have done it somewhere slightly more impressive than this… _dump_?"

Kira opened her mouth to reply, but was stopped at the sight of a glowing object in front of them. Grabbing Conner's arm, she pointed in the direction of the glow, and, wordlessly, the two Rangers began to walk towards it. As they reached the glow, however, both of them couldn't deny that they were a little disappointed; it just appeared to be a simple crystal ball, glowing slightly with various colours (Red, yellow, blue, pink, black and white, a part of Conner's mind vaguely noted; at least _that_ much looked like what he'd been expecting).

On the plus side, the ball didn't appear to react to their presence that much; a part of Conner had been worried that it would have some kind of defence mechanism that would stop anyone getting to it. But now that Conner thought about it, why would it? After all, the Orb had been thought to be destroyed after Master Vile turned back time, and nobody had ever bothered to look for it after it was restored in the new history.

Reaching out, Conner picked up the Orb, turned to look at Kira…

"Give me that!" a voice cried from the door, and Conner's eyes widened in horror.

" _Zeltrax_!" he and Kira cried out simultaneously, as they spun around to face the black-armoured form of their old foe.

"But… but you're dead!" Kira cried, staring at him in horror. "You died when Doctor O. destroyed the Aerial Assault Vehicle!"

Zeltrax just chuckled grimly as he looked at the two Rangers.

"Just because your precious mentor _wanted_ something to happen, doesn't mean it _did_ happen," Zeltrax retorted, as he glared at the two of them while assuming a combat position "Now, hand that over, or things will have to get unpleasant."

"No way!" Conner retorted, as he placed the Orb back on the ground and he and Kira faced Zeltrax. "Super Dino Mode!"

Instantly, their costumes grew long bony spikes or horns, Kira's outfit sprouting wing-like flaps…

Then, just as they were preparing to attack, something strange happened. As soon as the transformation to Super Dino Mode was complete, energy bolts shot from the Orb of Doom, flaring out to strike Conner, Kira and Zeltrax, sending them staggering back in surprise.

"What the…" Zeltrax said in confusion, as he turned to stare at the Orb as it continued to glow. "What's happening?"

"But-" Conner began in confusion, when suddenly, for no apparent reason, a brilliant light burst from the Orb, striking Conner, Kira and Zeltrax…

And then they vanished.

Only the fading glow of the Orb of Doom four sets of footprints- three in the cave and one outside it- even indicated that anyone had even been there in the first place.

* * *

"Oh God…" Conner muttered, as he slowly blinked his eyes open. "What was _that_ all about…?"

As he regained his senses, he noticed three things about himself.

Firstly, he was no longer in the mountains; he was lying in a rather pleasant-looking park, apparently in the middle of a large grassy area.

Secondly, he was no longer morphed; whatever had just happened to him must have shorted out his Ranger powers and forced him to demorph.

Thirdly, his right hand was holding Kira's left one; he must have instinctively grabbed her when whatever happened to them had happened.

Reluctantly releasing the beautiful Yellow Ranger's hand as he took a quick mental check-over, Conner was relieved to find that nothing seemed to be broken; everything felt like it was where he should be.

Hauling himself to his knees, the Red Ranger glanced down at himself just to make sure, and was pleased to see that his assessment seemed to be correct; a few grass stains were on his clothes from where he must have hit the ground, but other than that he seemed to be fine.

Looking over at Kira, who was already beginning to stir, he was relieved to see that the same was true for her; her clothes appeared dirty, but she seemed fine physically. He also noted with relief that their Dino Gems were still on their wrists; so long as they could still morph, they could handle anything that came their way.

"Uh… Conner?" Kira said, looking at him in a daze through her long blonde hair as it hung down over her eyes. "Wh… what happened? Where are we? And where's Zeltrax?"

Conner shrugged as he helped his teammate onto her feet.

"Sorry, but your guess is as good as mine," he said, as he helped her dust off some of the grass on her clothes before they looked around themselves again. "I'd guess the Orb teleported us somewhere, but where it stuck Zeltrax is something else."

Fortunately, Kira didn't seem to question how Zeltrax could be somewhere else and yet they'd landed here together; he wasn't sure how she'd react to the information that he'd taken her hand just before… _whatever_ had happened had happened.

"Anyway," he began, as he turned to look at their surroundings, "we should get going; maybe we-"

"Hey, a newspaper!" Kira cried, indicating a newspaper that seemed to have been blown against a nearby tree; Conner had missed it earlier as ihe wasn't standing in the right place to see it. Running over to it, Kira picked up the paper and checked the title.

"The _Angel Grove Clarion_ , huh?" she said, raising an eyebrow as she and Conner looked at the paper. "Well, at least we know…"

Then her and Conner's eyes widened as they saw the front of the paper.

The photograph on the front page alone was a shock. The photo focused on four giant figures, apparently the size of buildings based on their surroundings, facing each other. One was a blue figure wearing armour that resembled some combination of a ninja and a samurai, while the second had brown legs, an orange head, and bone-like protrusions around the main body. The other two figures were particularly interesting; one had large white wings, one red arm and one blue arm, black legs, and a yellow face that resembled a bear on its chest, while the other had a blue arm, a white arm, a predominately black body, with a white head in the shape of a paper crane.

However, what really drew their attention to the paper was the date printed on it.

 _25th November, 1995_.

A date over nine years in the past, printed on a newspaper that was clearly brand new…

Looking at each other as the newspaper flapped in the air between them, Conner and Kira each could only think of one thing to say.

"Ah, crap."

* * *

AN: Just to clarify, Conner and Kira (Along with Zeltrax and the White Ranger clone- he had just arrived outside the cave when the Orb of Doom activated; he was the fourth set of footprints) have gone back in time to just after the Power Rangers, consisting of Rocky, Aisha, Billy, Kat, Adam and Tommy and commanding both the Ninja and Shogun Zords, have defeated Dischordia in 'The Sound of Dischordia'. Since Zedd mentioned in 'Rangers in Reverse' that Master Vile was missing for days, assume this takes place during those days when Vile was absent

AN 2: To whom it may concern, I apologise for not making Kimberly the Pink Ranger; I prefer her over Kat myself, but I needed Ninjor free and the Shogun Zords active, so she, tragically, couldn't be included.


	5. The Bad, the Good, and the Future

" _Curses_!" Lord Zedd roared, clenching his fist angrily as he stared at the vast form of Earth before him. "What is _taking_ that accursed father of yours so long?"

"Hey, you don't know Dad, Ed!" Rito said, looking over at his brother-in-law with a slight grin on his skeleton-like face. "If he says he's got a plan, than he's got a good one; probably just wants to make sure all the kinks are ironed out before he tells us anything!"

"DON'T CALL ME 'ED'!" Zedd roared as he turned to glare at Rito. He was about to say something else, but then Finster hurried into the throne room, looking anxiously at Zedd.

"Forgive me for interrupting, but I believe I have discovered something that may be of interest," he said, bowing apologetically at Rita and Zedd.

"Which is?" Zedd asked, as he turned to look critically at Finster. "If this is _another_ attempt to access lost Zords, you can forget it; I am _not_ going to risk giving the Rangers access to yet _another_ weapon they could use against me!"

"But, my lord, this is a completely new discovery," Finster explained, as he looked around the throne-room at the others. "When I was carrying out a recent examination on Earth, attempting to come up with an idea for my latest monster, I discovered- much to my surprise- that there are four new energy signatures in Angel Grove."

"Energy signatures?" Baboo said, looking curiously over at Finster. "What kind of energy signatures?"

"An excellent question," the resident monster-maker said, as he turned to look at the blue monkey-like alien. "Two of them vaguely resemble the energy signatures that allow the Power Rangers to connect to the Morphin Grid, but there are subtle differences in the style of power when compared to what we are used to. Indeed, the energy signatures remind me of a combination of the original Dino power coins and the reconfigured Thunder power coins, but I am at a loss to explain how this could have occurred."

"Interesting," Zedd said, nodding thoughtfully as he looked at Finster. "You mentioned four energy signatures; what are the other two?"

"Well, one is merely a corrupted version of the original two signatures; I presently believe it to be the result of an attempt to duplicate the source of the energy that was fundamentally flawed," Finster explained, grateful that he had made an apparently helpful discovery this time around. "It is the fourth energy signature that most intrigues me; it is like nothing that I have ever detected before. I have managed to track the source of that signature, and, if you so desire, all you need do is look through the Repulsascope and it shall be seen."

"Oh, really?" Zedd said, as he walked over to his wife's original means of watching the Earth and peered through it. As the picture cleared, he smiled slightly under his mask as he watched the creature that Finster had discovered. It appeared to be a robot of some kind, forged from a dark navy-coloured metal of some kind, with some faint traces of silver around the thighs and chest, with sharp edges around the joints. The head in particular was intriguing; it had some patches of blue on it in some places, with a large oval-shaped area around the middle of the head, as well as a sharper point at the back of the skull.

Nodding thoughtfully, Zedd turned back to look at Finster.

"Excellent work; if this creature is anything like as dangerous as its appearance suggests, the results of recruiting it could prove… _promising_ , to say the least," he said to his monster maker, as he turned back to face the Earth and raised his staff. "I feel we should have a word with this individual; find out why he is here in particular."

A burst of red lightning flashed from his staff, and suddenly the creature was standing in the middle of the throne room, staring around itself in confusion before its eyes settled on Lord Zedd; his commanding presence made it clear that he was the leader.

"Who are you and why have you brought me here?" the creature demanded, glaring angrily at Zedd as it spoke.

"I am Lord Zedd, Emperor of all I see!" Zedd declared as he stared angrily at Zeltrax. "Who are _you_!"

"I am Zeltrax, sworn enemy of Tommy Oliver!" the creature retorted.

If Zedd's face had been capable of such an expression, he would have raised a surprised eyebrow.

"Tommy Oliver?" he said, looking at 'Zeltrax' in confusion. "What has the White Ranger done to _you_ ; he has concerned himself entirely with thwarting my own schemes!"

" _White_ Ranger?" Zeltrax said, staring at Zedd in confusion. "The White Ranger is Trent Fernandez; Tommy Oliver is the _Black_ Ranger…."

Then he suddenly clicked his fingers as a thought occurred to him. "But he _was_ the White Ranger once…"

"'Once'?" Rito said, staring at Zeltrax in surprise. "What; are you saying you're from the future or something lame like that?"

"Indeed…" Zeltrax said, chuckling thoughtfully as he turned to look at Zedd with what might have been called an arrogant expression if his face actually had anything to make an expression _with_. "And if I am indeed in the past, and you are all enemies of Tommy Oliver, I shall be _extremely_ willing to help you take him out now, rather than later."

The various villains in the moon palace looked inquiringly at each other. Evil they may be, but they weren't stupid; if this 'robot' _did_ come from the future, if he defeated Tommy Oliver before the White Ranger did whatever he did to anger the robot, the consequences to time could be difficult to predict…

 _But, on the other hand, it would only be in our_ future, Rita thought to herself as she studied this Zeltrax. _And anyway, we would be fools to neglect any advantage that comes our way_.

"Agreed!" Rita said, grinning wickedly at Zeltrax before her face assumed a more authoritive expression. "Just so long as you'll tackle the _other_ Rangers as well, we might even let you share in their stolen powers."

" _Deal_!" Zeltrax said, taking her hand and shaking it.

This was definitely going to be a _very_ profitable little jaunt into the past…

* * *

"Ah…" Tommy Oliver smiled to himself, as he sat at the Juice Bar and sipped at his latest milkshake, following another training session with Rocky and Adam. "You know, it's moments like these that make the job worthwhile."

"Yeah, I know what you mean," Adam added as he looked around the bar at the other customers. Billy was currently working on some plans he'd had an idea for recently (Something about the possibilities of combining some of the Ninjazords with some of the Shogunzords to create an updated Megazord, the Black Ranger vaguely recalled) while Aisha and Kat were talking over a few fighting strategies; Kat was still feeling a bit uncertain at times about her new role as the Pink Ranger, and Aisha had volunteered to have a talk with her about anything she was worried about, as the only other female Ranger currently active. "Sometimes it seems like we never get the chance to just sit back and relax any more; ever since Ninjor was captured, most of our spare time was spent working out a way to free him."

"Man, I have _never_ been more grateful to have nothing to do," Rocky smiled as he sipped his drink. "Just the occasional random tenga attack, and those don't really count as-"

Suddenly, their communicators beeped with the typical alert signal.

Sighing, Tommy, Rocky and Adam got up from the table, put a few dollars on the table to cover the cost of the drinks, beckoned Billy, Aisha and Kat over, and headed for the entrance to the Juice Bar before Tommy raised the communicator to his lips.

"Go ahead, Zordon," he said, after glancing around to make sure there was nobody near enough to hear them.

" _RANGERS, YOU MUST COME TO THE COMMAND CENTRE IMMEDIATELY; ALPHA AND I HAVE DETECTED SOMETHING THAT MUST BE INVESTIGATED AS SOON AS POSSIBLE_ ," the voice of the Rangers' mentor said over the communicator.

"We're on our way," Tommy said, nodding briefly as he terminated the link. Tapping the relevant buttons on their communicators, the Rangers experienced the ever-slightly-disturbing feeling of being broken and stuck together simultaneously, and then they had reappeared in the Command centre, the little robot known as Alpha 5 standing over a control panel with an almost nervous appearance about his stance as he turned to look at them.

"Rangers, you're here!" he said, the red light that made up his eyes looking at them eagerly.

"Hi, Alpha," Aisha said, smiling at the robot who all the Rangers had come to think of as their younger brother, before the Rangers as a whole turned to look at the tube where Zordon's head floated, suspended forever in a time warp.

"What's this problem you mentioned, Zordon?" Billy asked, looking anxiously up at their mentor.

"A FEW MOMENTS AGO, ALPHA AND I DETECTED A POWER FLUCTUATION IN THE MORPHIN GRID," Zordon explained, as the teens looked at him anxiously. "WE HAVE BEEN UNABLE TO PINPOINT THE PRECISE CAUSE, BUT THE CURRENT EVIDENCE SUGGESTS THAT THEY ARE ORIGINATING FROM A NEW MEANS OF HARNESSING THE ENERGY OF THE GRID, MUCH LIKE YOUR POWER COINS."

"What?" Rocky said, looking at Zordon in surprise. "You're saying that Rita and Zedd have-"

"NO, ROCKY; THESE ARE NOT THE CREATIONS OF ZEDD AND RITA," Zordon said, looking at the Red Ranger. "ALPHA AND I WOULD HAVE DETECTED THE ENERGIES FROM SUCH AN ACTION IF THEY HAD ATTEMPTED TO FORGE THEIR OWN LINK TO THE GRID. THESE ARE SOMETHING NEW; I CANNOT BE CERTAIN WHERE THEY HAVE COME FROM OR WHAT THEY ARE DOING HERE, BUT ALPHA AND I HAVE DETERMINED THAT THEY MAY BE USED TO CREATE RANGERS."

"And you want us to find them, correct?" Adam put in.

"Exactly," Alpha said, as he looked over at the teens. "We have managed to focus the scanners to pick out three distinct energy signatures; one is presently proving difficult to pinpoint, as it is so weak, but the other two seem to be located somewhere in Angel Grove Park, although something about the nature of the power source makes it hard to determine precisely where they are."

"ALPHA HAS DEVELOPED A TRACKING DEVICE THAT SHOULD ALLOW TO TRACK THE POWER SOURCE," Zordon added, as Alpha raised his arm and a device that resembled a speed gun with a digital counter of some kind on it appeared in his hand. "ONCE YOU ARE IN THE PARK, THIS WILL ALLOW YOU TO TRACE THE POWER SOURCE WITH GREATER ACCURACY THEN WE CAN ACHIEVE AT THE PRESENT MOMENT."

"Thanks, Alpha," Billy said, as he took the device himself, and turned to look back at the others. "We'd better get going; if there is some new power source out there, we need to get it before Rita and Zedd track it down first."

* * *

"Nineteen _ninety-five_!" Kira said, staring at the paper in horror as she slumped down to the ground, joined by Conner as the paper slipped from their hands and flew into the air. "But… but _how_?"

"Something must have happened to the Orb when we activated our Super Dino Mode," Conner said, shrugging in a futile attempt to appear nonchalant; Kira could tell that he was just as shaken as she was. "Maybe there's something about that date that'll help us; you have any ideas?"

Sighing, Kira shook her head. Neither of them had been very interested in the fine details of Doctor O.'s history as a Ranger; they knew most of the essential details, such as the quest for the Zeo subcrystals and how the Rangers came to control the Shogunzords, but minor details about Rita and Zedd's numerous monsters had never really interested them that much. Ethan had devoured all the information he could lay his hands on, but the two of them had always been content with focusing on the monster Mesogog was sending after them, rather than what the Rangers had tackled in the past.

"Sorry, nothing's leaping to mind," she said, shrugging apologetically as she glanced around at their surroundings. "Uh… maybe we should see about figuring out some way to get back? I mean, what'll it do to continuity if Doctor O. meets us _now_?"

"Good point," Conner said, nodding in agreement as he jerked his thumb towards a nearby path. "Let's get moving; maybe we'll find something in town that'll help us figure out what happened."

* * *

"You've found Ranger-like energy signatures?" Zeltrax asked, looking at Finster inquiringly. "Any indications as to _what_ they are?"

"No, not as of yet; they match no Ranger energies that we know of," Finster replied, trying to conceal his dislike of this 'Zeltrax'. True, he seemed like a powerful warrior, but he still seemed too angry at everything for him to be a useful asset in a combat situation. Goldar and Rito may be angry at the Rangers for a great deal of the time, but at least they had enough respect for Rita and Zedd to take their advice; Finster doubted that they would ever manage to tell Zeltrax to do anything. "Why; do you believe you know what they are?"

"Indeed," Zeltrax said, chuckling slightly as he looked back at Rita and Zedd. "When I was teleported back here, I was about to confront two of the Rangers that Tommy Oliver has trained in my present; if they came back as well…"

He shrugged nonchalantly and glanced back at Zedd. "I'll just head down and kill them, shall I?"

"No; _I_ shall!" Goldar yelled, glaring at Zeltrax as he turned to look at Lord Zedd. "Master, this 'Zeltrax' may indeed be a useful means of surprising the other Rangers, but these new Rangers are experienced with fighting him. Send me instead; I shall be a new opponent for them, and can handle them with ease!"

Zedd nodded in agreement as he glared at Goldar. He had to admit, Goldar's reasons for sending _him_ against these new Rangers rather than Zeltrax made sense; after all, given that Zeltrax hadn't known who he was when he arrived, it would appear that he and his… associates… were no longer the main adversary of the current Ranger team. Zedd had no idea _how_ that happened- maybe he'd decided to move on to other things, or maybe Dark Specter had ordered him somewhere else- but it didn't matter right now.

Even if Goldar _didn't_ eliminate these new Rangers, he could at least give Zedd a fair idea of their abilities when he finally decided to destroy them.

"Very well, Goldar; you may have your shot at them," he said, indicating Earth with his staff. "Now go."

* * *

"Watch out!" Conner yelled, grabbing Kira's shoulder and yanking her back as a large black shape dived in front of her, Spinning around in shock, Conner and Kira found themselves facing massive human-shaped… _things_ … covered in black feathers, grey armour covering their chests and an equally grey face and beak.

"Tengas!" Kira called back at Conner. "They're Lord Zedd's foot soldiers!"

"Your knowledge is correct, Rangers!" another voice yelled. Spinning around in the direction of the voice, the two Rangers felt their eyes widen in horror as they found themselves looking at a powerfully built creature in gold armour with blue hands and face and large black-feathered wings.

" _Goldar_!" Conner and Kira cried in horror; foot soldiers were hard to keep track of, but this sucker was practically a legend in Ranger circles as one of the few monsters who'd lasted more than a few fights with the Power Rangers, even when going up against the current Megazord.

"Correct!" Goldar chuckled, as he pointed his sword at them. "Now, surrender your powers, and your lives will be spared!"

Glancing briefly at each other, Conner and Kira quickly came to a decision.

"No chance, Goldar," Conner said, he and Kira flicking their wrists to activate their morphers.

"Dino Thunder, Power Up! HAH!" they both cried, tapping their wrists and activating their powers. When the resulting glow faded, Goldar found himself facing two forms clad in brightly-coloured spandex and apparently dinosaur-themed helmets, each one holding a short sword and in a combat stance that made it clear they knew what they were doing.

"You want our powers?" Conner asked, smiling as he glared at Goldar, his grip tightening on his Thundermax Saber. "Come and take them."

"Very well!" Goldar roared, as he looked at the tengas. "Tenga Warriors, _attack_!"

As the bird-like things rushed them, Conner and Kira instantly leapt into action, slicing their way through their new opponents as though they were nothing more than blades of grass in the path of history's deadliest lawnmower.


	6. Meeting the Legends

The Rangers had barely arrived in Angel Grove Park, and they were already totally confused.

"Wait; you mean it just… _starts_ here?" Kat asked, staring at Billy in confusion. "How can that happen?"

Billy shrugged helplessly. "Your guess is as good as mine," he said, as he studied Alpha's machine curiously. "I'd be tempted to say there's been a mistake, but I've checked over the machine and everything seems to be in its proper place; it's as though the power source just… appeared here."

"Well, can you get anything about where it went from here?" Tommy asked.

"Most likely," Billy said, as he began to alter a few dials on the machine. "The power source is very easy to detect here, but that seems to be because it was just left here for a prolonged period of time; if I can increase the scanner's power slightly, we should be able to…"

The machine then began to beep sharply, and Billy smiled slightly at the sound.

"There we are; the power went this way," he said, indicating a pathway leading in a certain direction. "The signal's still fresh; if we move quickly, we should reach it in a few minutes, assuming it maintains its present speed and distance."

Nodding in agreement with the plan of action proposed by the Blue Ranger, the Rangers began to walk down the path in question, constantly scanning their surroundings for something that could be the power source they were here to find…

Then they came to the top of a small hill and saw something on the other side that left all six of them in no doubt that they'd found what they were looking for. There, at the bottom of the slight drop in the ground, surrounded by a mass of tengas and the familiar armour-clad form of Goldar, were two figures who could only be Red and Yellow Rangers, wearing form-fitting suits in their respective colours, with white diamond-like patterns running along their arms and legs and a symbol on their chests that resembled a dinosaur's claw.

Evidently, whatever the power source was that Billy's machine had detected, these new Rangers had been given access to it.

"What the…?" Rocky said, as he stared at the Rangers fighting before them in confusion. "The power found someone worthy of using it that fast?"

"Either that or they came here _with_ the power," Adam pointed out, glancing critically over at the Red Ranger.

"Well, whether they received the power already or they came here _with_ isn't the main issue right now," Aisha interjected, as she indicated the battle waging before them. "Right now, since Goldar's trying to kill them, shall we assume that they're on _our_ side and give them some help?"

"Right," Tommy said, as he glanced around at the others. "OK guys; it's morphin' time!"

Reaching behind their backs, the six teens pulled out their morphers, the Power Coins in the centre, and called out the words that would transform them.

"White Ranger power!"

"Black Ranger power!"

"Pink Ranger power!"

"Blue Ranger power!"

"Yellow Ranger power!"

"Red Ranger power!"

* * *

Conner couldn't quite believe his eyes. One minute, he'd been trying to hold off the tengas that had been trying to make birdfood out of him for the last few minutes with his Thundermax Saber and Tyranno Staff, with only minimal success. The next, two forms clad in what seemed to be blue and black 'spandex' dived in front of him, tackling the tengas with such strength that Conner briefly wondered if, somehow, Ethan and Doctor O. had been dragged along here with him and Kira…

Then he saw the outfits in full details- particularly the more elaborate helmets and the white diamond-like pattern around the chest- and knew that things were just about to get even more complicated.

 _So much for not meeting the past Rangers…_ Conner thought to himself, as the original Blue and Black Power Rangers (Well, original in terms of power; he was pretty sure the Black Ranger had been replaced at some point) turned to look at him.

"Who _are_ you!" the Black Ranger (Adam Park right now, if Conner recalled his Ranger history) said, looking at Conner as the tengas briefly scattered from the shock of the new arrivals.

"Uh… long story… Mastodon," Conner said, deciding he might as well choose a neutral nickname for Doctor O.'s colour predecessor; the only other alternative that he could think of on such short notice was 'Blackie', and it sounded stupid anyway. "Just… trust me; we're on your side."

"Conner!" Kira's voice called out from over in one direction. "A little help over here!"

Glancing over in his friend's direction, Conner saw to his horror that the Yellow Ranger was desperately struggling with Goldar, whose sword was hovering dangerously close to Kira's throat; her Ptera Grips could only do so much to hold her foe off….

"NO!" he roared, shifting his Thundermax Saber into blaster mode and firing desperately at Goldar. To his relief, the blast sent the gold titan reeling back, long enough for Kira to get back to her feet and lash out at Goldar with her Ptera Grips.

"Hey, Goldar!" a voice called out from the side, a voice that was so familiar to Conner that he briefly thought that they were all back home…

Then, of course, the speaker appeared in front of him, dressed in _white_ instead of _black_ and striking at his opponent a _sword_ rather than the more familiar _staff_ , and the reality of his situation sank in once again.

"White Ranger!" Goldar roared angrily at Tommy, as the aforementioned costumed hero landed in front of his foe and spun around, his sword pointing at Goldar as Conner and Kira could only stare in amazement; even nine years younger, their mentor still seemed to be as skilled now as he was in their present.

"Yeah, it's me," Doctor O. ( _Tommy_ , Conner reminded himself; since it now seemed inevitable that they'd have to talk to the current Ranger team, they might as well try to avoid attracting attention) said, looking coolly at Goldar as the other Rangers gathered around him, the tengas having been driven off while Conner was distracted. "Now, care to explain why you're suddenly attacking these guys?"

Goldar just laughed.

"You will never know until it is too late!" he roared, chuckling as he hit his chest once and then, much to the surprise of Conner and Kira, he suddenly vanished in a burst of orange 'flame'.

"Great…" the other Red Ranger groaned, as he turned to look at the White Ranger. "Why is it he _always_ does that?"

"Yeah, I know; annoying, isn't it?" the White Ranger said, sighing as he turned back to look at Conner and Kira. "Anyway, if you don't mind me asking, who are you guys?"

Swallowing slightly, Conner and Kira looked over at each other, and then Kira sighed and shrugged.

"Hey; if Goldar was after us, we've probably already changed things, right?" she pointed out. "Maybe we should just go with it right now and worry about the consequences later, right?"

Nodding in agreement, Conner turned to look at his future teacher, trying to look relatively calm about this whole situation.

"Look… Falcon…" he said, deciding to stick with the 'code name' idea while they were in public, "It's a long story, and it'd probably be better if we could tell this somewhere a bit less public. Have you got anywhere we might be able to talk about this?"

The White Ranger glanced over at the other Rangers, his head tilted in an inquiring manner.

"What do you guys say?" he asked them.

The other Rangers looked curiously at each other for a few moments, and then the Blue Ranger looked back at the White Ranger with an affirmative nod.

"It shouldn't be too risky," he said reassuringly. "After all, there's six of us and two of them; if this all turns out to be some trick, we should be able to contain them."

Nodding in agreement, the White Ranger turned to look at the other two Rangers.

"OK, we'll take you to our Command Centre; we can talk there," he said. "Can you teleport after us?"

"Tele- oh, no, sorry," Kira said, shaking her head and shrugging apologetically. "Our technical expert never got round to installing that bit."

"Well, no problem; you can just teleport in with the two of us," the Yellow Ranger said, indicating herself and the Red Ranger.

"Cool," Conner said, nodding gratefully at the Red Ranger as the two Rangers stepped up to take their counterparts by the arm.

"Just remember, we'll want an explanation when we get there," the Red Ranger said, as the Rangers raised their wrists in front of their faces, tapped something…

* * *

And then, after a brief moment where everything suddenly seemed to become a mass of energy that resembled models of molecules they'd seen in science class, Conner and Kira found themselves standing in a large, high-tech control room, filled with all kinds of glowing panels. A large globe made of some unidentified material was at one end of the room, while a large tube was at the other end.

A robot with a hockey-puck-shaped head, a red body and blue arms stood near the tube, a red light flashing on the front of the 'puck' in a position that suggested that it was the robot's eyes, while, in the tube itself, a large, pale blue… _head_ … stared out at the Rangers, a serene expression on its face.

"Whoa…" Kira said, as she stared around the Command Centre as the other Rangers stepped forward slightly, leaving Conner and Kira standing behind them.

"OK, not that I'm complaining, but _our_ Command Centre's just a cave," Conner said, as he stared around the room before turning to look at the figures in front of them. "Uh… Zordon and Alpha, right?"

The robot cocked its head to one side as it looked at the two new arrivals curiously. "How do you know our names?" it asked.

Looking at each other, Conner and Kira sighed.

"Avoid specifics?" Kira suggested.

Conner nodded. "Since they already know we're here, it seems like the only thing to do now," he said, before they turned back to the team. "Look, what we're going to tell you may be hard to believe, but you'll need to trust us, OK?"

Raising his wrist up towards his face, he tapped a couple of buttons on his Dino Morpher, and instantly found himself once again in the red-and-white checked shirt, white T-shirt and jeans that he'd been wearing when this whole mess started. Glancing off to his right, he saw that Kira had done the same thing, now wearing jeans and a sleeveless yellow-and-black fishnet-style top.

"My name is Conner McKnight, and this is Kira Ford," Conner explained as he looked at the Rangers, swallowing nervously as he prepared to say the part that he knew they would find hardest to believe, but knowing he was too far gone now.

"And… we're from the future."


	7. Where It All Began

"Wait a minute; the _future_?" Adam said, staring at the two new 'Rangers' in surprise, even though he knew they wouldn't be able to see it; he was still wearing his helmet, after all. "What do you mean, the future?"

"Basically, we mean that the last time we saw a newspaper it was 2004, and suddenly we're here and it's 1995," the girl- Kira, Adam recalled her name was- said, looking critically at the Black Ranger as she spoke. "Look, it'd take too long to explain, and we'd rather not go into too much detail right now; what's important is that we got stuck here while we were trying to find something, and if we don't get back soon, our friends are going to be in serious trouble."

The six Rangers looked among each other for a few moments, and then turned to look at Zordon.

"What do you think, Zordon?" Tommy asked, looking inquiringly up at their mentor. "Are they telling the truth?"

"ALPHA AND I HAVE TAKEN A BRIEF SCAN OF THEIR POWER SOURCES DURING THIS CONVERSATION, TOMMY," Zordon explained, sparing a brief glance of apology in the direction of the new Rangers before continuing. "THE POWER CONTAINTED WITHIN THE GEMS APPEARS TO HAVE VOLUNTARILY BONDED WITH THEM, RECOGNISING THAT THEY ARE WORTHY OF USING IT PROPERLY. ALTHOUGH IT IS DIFFERENT FROM ANY POWER I HAVE EVER SEEN, THERE ARE ECHOES OF YOUR EARLIER DINOSAUR AND THUNDER POWER COINS WITHIN THEM; I BELIEVE THEY CAN BE TRUSTED."

"OK…" Tommy said, slightly uncertainly, as he and the others turned back to look back at the new arrivals. "You trusted us… so, I guess we can trust you. Power down!"

As soon as the words were out of his mouth, all six of the Rangers were standing in the Command Centre in their civilian costumes, looking uncertainly at their new acquaintances for a moment or two before Tommy broke the silence by stepping forward and offering Conner his hand.

"Hi," he said, trying to sound casual. "I'm Tommy Oliver, the White Ranger; Rocky DeSantos is the Red Ranger, Billy Cranston is the Blue Ranger, Aisha Campbell's the Yellow Ranger, Adam Park's the Black Ranger, and Kat Hillard's the Pink Ranger."

"Uh… good to meet you," Conner said, taking Tommy's hand and shaking it, a slightly dazed expression on his face.

"Something wrong?" Adam asked the new arrival curiously.

"Mmm? Oh, nothing…" Conner said dismissively, as he stepped back from Tommy and stared at his surroundings. "It's just… being here, you know? Being where the Power Ranger legacy all began… facing the guys who made it great… it's all… well, it's kinda daunting, really."

"Uh… thanks, I guess," Rocky said, looking uncertainly at Aisha, Adam and Kat, all four of them wondering if they should point out that only Billy and Tommy had been members of the _original_ team of six…

"So," Billy said, looking curiously at Conner and Kira, "if you don't mind my asking, where do your powers come from?"

"Oh, these gems," Kira explained, raising her arm to show Billy the silver bracelet and the glowing yellow gem that gave her and Conner their powers.

"Fascinating," Billy said, leaning forward and twisting Kira's arm slightly to examine the workmanship. "Where did you acquire these?"

"Oh, if I remember right, they're part of the meteor that hit the Earth and caused the dinosaurs to become extinct," Conner said casually, trying to avoid paying too much attention to Tommy; a part of him still couldn't get used to the idea of seeing his teacher wearing white while the guy had long hair…

Shaking his head to get himself back on track, Conner continued his story. "The meteor bonded with dinosaur DNA, and, a few years from now, someone figured out to allow the two of us, along with a couple of friends, to use the power to become a new generation of Power Rangers to battle this new nutcase, and we've been at it ever since."

"Dinosaur DNA?" Kat said, looking at Conner in surprise. "Is that why your powers slightly resemble the original Ranger powers?"

"Probably," Conner said, nodding in agreement as he looked at Kat. "Never really thought about it that much, to be honest; there hasn't been much time to ask Doc- our _mentor_ \- about the specifics."

Aisha seemed about to ask about why that was, but Kira raised a hand to stop her predecessor finishing her sentence.

"Trust me; we can't tell you any more," she told the Bear Ninja Ranger apologetically. "We've already told you more than we should have; I'd rather we didn't tell you anything we don't _need_ to tell you right now."

"Oh, the whole temporal paradox thing, huh?" Rocky put in, smiling slightly. "Yeah, that could be a tricky one."

"Temporal what?" Aisha asked, looking at the Red Ranger curiously.

"Temporal paradox, Aisha," Billy explained, as he looked over at his Yellow teammate. "Basically, they don't want to tell us too much in case we learn something about the future and are tempted to change it, because if we alter anything that they have experienced, we could change the course of events so that, say, these two never become Power Rangers in the first place."

"Oh," Aisha said, nodding in understanding.

"So… what happened that got you stuck back here?" Adam asked, looking curiously at Conner and Kira.

"Yeah, look, about that…" Conner said, looking at the other Rangers with a slightly sheepish expression. "It's nothing against you guys, but it's probably best if only Zordon and Alpha know how we got here for the moment; it's kind of linked to something that'll happen to you in the future-"

"And you want to make sure we don't change it, huh?" Tommy asked, smiling slightly. "Fair enough; we'll just head on down to the Youth Centre, OK? You can join us when you're done."

"Sounds good," Kira said, nodding gratefully. "See you when we get there!" she called after them, as the six Rangers tapped a button on their 'watches' and teleported away from the Command Centre.

"Oh boy…" Conner sighed, sitting down on the floor and leaning his back against the nearest console. "Thank _God_ that's done for the moment…"

"Is something wrong?" Alpha asked, looking curiously at Kira (Or as curiously as he _could_ look, given the lack of a face of any make or description).

"No, nothing's wrong, just… awkward, I guess," Kira said, as she looked up at Zordon. "Look, I'm sorry if what I'm about to say insults you, but Conner and I need to know that what we're about to tell you and Alpha won't go beyond the four of us."

"OF COURSE, KIRA FORD," Zordon said, his head appearing to incline slightly in understanding as he looked at the young Yellow Ranger. "BE ASSURED, ALPHA AND I SHALL NOT MENTION ANY FUTURE DETAILS THAT YOU RECOUNT TO US."

"Thanks," Kira said, smiling gratefully before her expression became more professional once again. "Anyway, the main reason we seemed on-edge back then is… well, Tommy's our mentor in the future, as well as our Black Ranger."

"Tommy?" Alpha said, looking at Kira in surprise. "Ay yi yi yi yi! How did _that_ happen?"

"Basically, he found the first three Dino Gems- that's what we call our power sources-, we ended up becoming bonded to them on a detention- he's our science teacher when he's not a Ranger nowadays-, bonded with the Black Gem when we found it, and he's fought with us ever since," Kira explained, taking a small degree of pride in the look of surprise on Zordon's face; from what she'd heard from Doctor O.'s records, in all their time as Rangers, the original team had _never_ managed to surprise Zordon…

"REMARKABLE," Zordon said, shaking his head slightly in wonder as he looked at the young Rangers before him, before a small smile spread across his face. "HOWEVER, IT IS NOT AN UNEXPECTED TALE. TOMMY HAS PROVEN HIMSELF TO BE A FINE RANGER, AND IT IS GOOD TO KNOW THAT HE SHALL CONTINUE TO BE SO IN THE FUTURE, REGARDLESS OF WHAT CHANGES TAKE PLACE."

"Trust me; he's doing a good job of it," Conner said, smiling slightly at the memory before his face fell and he looked back at Zordon with a more serious expression. "Anyway, you probably want to know why we're here."

"INDEED," Zordon said, nodding in agreement as he looked curiously at the Dino Red Ranger. "WHAT HAPPENED TO CAUSE YOU TO COME BACK HERE?"

"Well, it was mostly an accident, really," Kira said, slightly sheepishly, as she looked up at Zordon. "Have you heard of the 'Orb of Doom'?"

"THE ORB OF DOOM?" Zordon said, looking at Kira in surprise. "IT IS A DANGEROUS ARTEFACT RUMOURED TO BE IN THE CONTROL OF MASTER VILE; I HAVE ALWAYS BELIEVED IT TO BE A MYTH."

"Well, trust us; it's real," Conner said, as he looked up at Zordon. "We can't give you the specifics, but, basically, Vile used it to turn time back about eight years, leaving the Rangers as kids, and to turn time back to normal, you guys had to find the Zeo Crystal and use it as a new power source."

"The Zeo Crystal?" Alpha said, looking in surprise at Conner. "But what happened to the Power Coins?"

"We can't tell you that," Kira said apologetically. "Look, just trust us; the Power Coins were lost, but what happened to them in no way impacted the defence of Earth by the Rangers, and you were able to use the Zeo Crystal as a replacement power source anyway."

Swallowing, she looked up at Zordon. "Anyway, the reason we're here is that we were trying to figure out a means of accessing the Shogun Zords."

"The Shogun Zords?" Alpha asked, looking in surprise at Kira. "What's wrong with your current zords?"

"They got damaged in our last fight, and we need something to help us out until or technical expert can repair them," Kira explained as she looked over at Alpha; no point talking about the Green Ranger situation when they didn't even know what their foe had been _doing_ there yet…

Getting back on track, Kira continued her story. "She thought that she might be able to use the Orb of Doom to take readings of the energy needed to control the Shogun Zords so that we could use them ourselves- not really clear on _how_ , so don't ask- but one of our enemies showed up, and when Conner and I tried to shift into this 'power-up' mode of ours, something happened to the Orb and…"

She shrugged. "We ended up here."

"I SEE…" Zordon said, nodding thoughtfully as he studied the Rangers. "BE ASSURED, ALPHA AND I SHALL DO EVERYTHING WITHIN OUR POWER TO DEVELOP A MEANS OF SENDING YOU BACK TO YOUR PROPER PLACE AND TIME. IN THE MEANTIME, YOU SHOULD LET THE OTHER RANGERS KNOW OF YOUR NEED TO CONTROL THE SHOGUN ZORDS; I AM CERTAIN THAT BILLY WILL BE WILLING TO HELP YOU ONCE YOU HAVE EXPLAINED WHAT YOU CAN OF THE SITUATION."

Conner was about to say something, but Zordon just smiled reassuringly. "DO NOT WORRY, CONNER; BILLY IS DOUBTLESS AWARE OF THE DANGERS OF INQUIRING ABOUT FUTURE INFORMATION. HE SHALL NOT ASK FOR MORE INFORMATION THAN YOU FEEL IS NECESSARY TO GIVE HIM."

"Uh… right," Conner said, swallowing slightly. "Well… we'd best be off now, I guess."

After a brief nod from Zordon, Alpha tapped a few buttons on the nearest console, and the two Dino Thunder Rangers vanished in a burst of red and yellow light.

* * *

As soon as they were gone, Alpha turned to look curiously at Zordon.

"Do you have any possibilities as to what brought them here, Zordon?" he asked the ancient wizard enquiringly.

"IT IS POSSIBLE THAT THE 'POWER UPGRADE' THEY REFER TO ENHANCED THE SIGNATURE OF THE MORPHING ENERGY WITHIN THEIR GEMS," Zordon said, a thoughtful expression on his face as he studied Alpha. "BASED ON WHAT THEY HAVE TOLD US, IT WOULD APPEAR THAT THE POWER COINS WERE DESTROYED IN THE SIMULATED PAST CREATED BY THE ORB OF DOOM. AS A RESULT, THE ENERGY OF THE COINS WOULD BE CONTAINED IN THE ORB, AS WELL AS TRACES OF THE TIME THAT THE ENERGY WAS LAST CALLED UPON. IT WOULD APPEAR LOGICAL TO ASSUME THAT, WHEN THE DINO THUNDER RANGERS 'POWERED UP', AS THEY CALL IT, THE ORB SENSED THEIR POWER, AS DID THE POWER COIN ENERGY WITHIN THE ORB. AS A RESULT, THE POWER COIN ENERGIES SENT BOTH THE DINO GEMS AND THEIR OWNERS BACK TO A POINT IN TIME SHORTLY BEFORE THAT POWER CEASED TO BE USED, 'BELIEVING' THAT THE DINO THUNDER POWER SHOULD BE WITH THE POWER LIKE ITSELF."

"It makes sense…" Alpha said, nodding thoughtfully, before looking back up at Zordon. "But how can we return them to their proper locations in time? Without the Orb, such a task would be impossible!"

"IT WOULD BE DIFFICULT, ALPHA, BUT NOT IMPOSSIBLE," Zordon replied, smiling slightly as a thought occurred to him. "I HAVE FAITH IN TOMMY'S JUDGEMENT; IF HE BELIEVES THAT THESE TWO HAVE THE CHARACTER TO BE TRUE RANGERS, THAN I WILL TRUST HIS JUDGEMENT. IN THAT CASE, THERE IS A POSSIBLE WAY FOR US TO RETURN THESE RANGERS TO THEIR PROPER LOCATIONS IN TIME BEFORE THEY HAVE A SERIOUS IMPACT ON FUTURE RECORDED HISTORY."

"Which is?" Alpha asked, looking curiously at Zordon.

"FIRSTLY, WE MUST CONTACT NINJOR," Zordon said, as he looked at his assistant. "AFTER THAT, IT SHALL ALL BECOME CLEAR."


	8. More Complex Than Was Originally Thought

As they 'rematerialised' (Or whatever the expression was for finishing a teleport) Conner and Kira were relieved to find themselves standing in a hallway outside a rather pleasant-looking youth club. The majority of the club seemed to be taken up by crash mats, apparently used as training areas given the amount of martial artists that were standing in the area, but there were still a significant amount of seating areas off to the side, gathered around a bar area. As their eyes fell on the six Rangers, gathered around a couple of tables and sipping at milkshakes, Conner and Kira smiled in relief.

"Hey guys!" Kira called out, waving at the Rangers as she and Conner walked over. "Room for two more?"

"Sure," Rocky said, smiling at his future counterpart as he and Aisha pulled a couple of extra chairs over, allowing the other Red and Yellow Rangers to sit down.

"So, how did the conversation with Zordon and Alpha go?" Kat asked, looking curiously at the new arrivals. "Do they have any ideas as to how to get you back to your own time yet?"

Kira shook her head. "Nothing on that front, really, but we do have a few other things that we decided about," she explained, as she glanced around the table, making sure that nobody else could hear them, before leaning forward slightly to talk to the others. "Specifically, we've decided that we can tell you a bit about what we were doing before we got stuck back here."

"Really?" Aisha said, looking at her fellow Yellow Ranger with an eagerly inquiring expression on her face. "What happened?"

"Well," Conner said, as he looked around the table, after taking a brief glance around the centre to make sure that nobody was close enough to hear them, "basically, most of our zords were badly damaged in our last fight with our current bad guy- nobody you know, so don't ask for his name-, and our technical expert came up with a plan that might have allowed us to access the Shogunzords instead. We can't go into _how_ \- partly because we're not sure ourselves- but when we found the object that might have allowed us to control the Shogunzords, we got transported back here, and…"

He shrugged. "Well, the rest is pretty straightforward; Goldar attacked us and then you guys showed up."

"Is that it?" Kat asked, looking inquiringly at Conner. "Can't you tell us anything else?"

Kira shook her head. "Trust me, Kat; we can't," she said, looking directly at the Pink Ranger as she spoke. "We're already putting a lot on the line here just letting you know that much; we can't afford to tell you too much, or… well, we'd have a problem."

"She's right, Kat," Adam put in from off to one side. "They can't tell us too much about what happens to the Shogunzords; if we change it, they might never be in a position to come back here, then we'd never have known to change it, then they'd come back and change it…"

He sighed slightly as he sank back in his seat. "God, it's complicated just _thinking_ about it…"

"Indeed," Billy said, leaning forward and, looking curiously at Conner and Kira, indicated the gems on their wrists. "May I?"

Looking at each briefly, Conner and Kira shrugged casually and Kira took off the bracelet holding the gem and passed it over to Billy.

"Just be careful with it, OK?" she said, as the Blue Ranger took it.

"Of course," Billy said, as he stared at the gem in his hands. "Fascinating… it looks as though these morphers were made using super conductive polymers to allow the gems to bond with the metal."

"Meaning?" Rocky asked, glancing inquiringly at the Blue Ranger.

"Well, it suggests to me that, unlike us, you don't have the benefit of an otherworldly advisor; these minerals appear distinctly Earth-based in origin, when it would be far easier to use extra-terrestrial materials in the construction of these morphers," Billy said, looking back at Conner and Kira. "But if that is the case, how can you have zords?"

"Oh, our mentor worked with some other scientist as part of his graduate program to combine dinosaur DNA with technology," Kira said offhandedly as she took the gem back and clasped it around her wrist. "Can't remember the specifics as to _how_ they were created, but the results are certainly impressive; we've got three main zords that form our Megazord, a carrier zord controlled by our Black Ranger, a second megazord formed by two zords that's controlled by our White Ranger, four backup zords that can enhance our own firepower by acting as alternate arms, and another zord that serves as Conner's zord in his- for lack of a better term- 'battlizer' form."

"Battlizer?" Tommy said, looking curiously at Conner. "What's that?"

"Oh, just some 'power upgrade' thing that seems to have become part of the deal with being a Red Ranger since… uh, around 1998, I think the first one was activated," Conner said, shrugging dismissively as he continued to tell the story. "Basically, it gives the current Red Ranger some kind of extra weaponry that he can use in a fight, commonly taking the form of some kind of armour with extra weaponry. Looks bulky at times, but trust me, they're good to have in a tight spot."

He shrugged. "'Course, I don't exactly _have_ a battlizer; I've got this shield that lets me upgrade into a form we call the _Triassic_ Ranger, but it doesn't really give me much in the way of armour; just enhanced strength and a shield."

Rocky whistled slightly.

"That's more than _I've_ got," he said, as he looked over at Billy with a sarcastically critical expression on his face. "How come _you've_ never tried to build something like that for us?"

"Well, we've had a lot to deal with," Billy said, although, given the intent manner that he was staring at the dino gems, it was evident that his mind was only partly on the task at hand. After a few moments, he looked back at Conner and Kira, a thoughtful expression on his face.

"You say you came here to work out a means of controlling the Shogunzords?" he said, looking inquiringly at the two Rangers. "Can I ask why you came looking for those zords in particular, or is that another fact that you can't tell us?"

Conner shrugged. "No, the reason's simple enough; our colours matched," he said nonchalantly. "We've only got five Rangers- red, yellow, blue, black and white- so our technical expert thought the Shogunzords were the better choice; something about there being more chance of everything coming together if the colours didn't 'clash' or something like that…"

"I see," Billy said, nodding thoughtfully for a moment or two before continuing. "If you like, I could see what I could do about reprogramming the Shogunzords to accept commands from the gems?"

"What?" Kira said, looking at Billy in surprise. "But we've only got two of the gems here; can you do that?"

Billy shrugged. "With the power coins to provide a comparison between different Ranger colours, it shouldn't be too difficult to make a close estimate," he said. "Once I have an idea of the energies emitted by the gems, I can link your gems up to the Red and Yellow Shogunzords, and subsequently use the energies from the gems as a starting point for enabling a similar connection to the Blue, White and Black Shogunzords."

Tommy nodded in approval. "Seems like a sensible move to me," he said, as he looked over at Conner and Kira. "After all, the sooner you've done what you came here to do, the sooner we can work on a way to send you back and avoid risking too many changes in history, right?"

"Oh yeah," Kira said, smiling slightly before a sudden beeping noise cut through the air.

"What the…?" Conner said, looking at the Rangers' wrists in surprise. "Was that your _watches_?"

"Actually, it's our communicators," Aisha explained, indicating the device in question as she smiled slightly at the Rangers. "Don't you have a way of keeping in touch with your base?"

"Well, yeah…" Conner said, a slightly sheepish expression on his face. "It's just… well, our ones aren't that small; our morphers generally double up as communicators."

"Ah," Rocky said, nodding slightly as the eight Rangers got up and headed over to a corner of the Youth Centre, before the Red Ranger raised his communicator to his mouth. "Zordon, it's Rocky; go ahead."

" _RANGERS, YOU MUST REPORT TO THE COMMAND CENTRE; SOMETHING HAS TAKEN PLACE THAT I BELIEVE IS CONNECTED TO OUR NEW ARRIVALS_ ," Zordon's voice said over the communicator. Conner and Kira looked at each other in surprise- what could have happened that would involve _them_?-, but the other Rangers just nodded, Aisha and Rocky grabbed Conner and Kira's arms, and then the six of them teleported away from the Centre…

* * *

And subsequently landed in the Command Centre.

"What's wrong?" Adam asked, looking up at Zordon curiously.

"OBSERVE THE VIEWING GLOBE," Zordon explained, indicating something behind them. As the Ranger turned, Conner and Kira found themselves looking a glowing white ball with some kind of picture inside it. The picture seemed to show Angel Grove Park, but there was some kind of laser fire flying around the place…

Then the globe's focus changed to show what was _firing_ those blasts, and Conner and Kira paled in horror.

"The _White Ranger_?" Kira cried out, looking at Conner in shock. "But… but Trent…"

Reaching over to his yellow teammate, Conner placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"It's not him, Kira," Conner said, looking reassuringly at his… friend, trying not to think about he just wanted to grab her and kiss her right now, to reassure her that everything would be all right…

"It's the clone," he continued, shaking off his train of thought- fantasies wouldn't help any of them right now. "It's got to be; Trent wouldn't do something like this. He must have been sent after us when we came here, and when we were sent back in time, he somehow got… dragged along."

"Hold on a minute; could we have a cast list, please?" Rocky asked, looking in confusion at the Red and Yellow Rangers. "Are you telling us that the… _Ranger_ … out there… is just a _clone_ of a White Ranger?"

Removing his hand from Kira's shoulder, Conner turned to look at his counterpart and nodded.

"Pretty much, yeah," he said, as he looked curiously at the other Rangers; for some reason, all of them, apart from Kat, were looking at each other (More specifically, at Tommy and Billy) with more than a slight degree of fear.

"Is something wrong?" Kira asked, as she looked curiously between the Blue and White Rangers.

"Oh… no, not really… Billy and I just had a couple of bad experiences with clones a year ago," Tommy said, shrugging apologetically as he looked at Conner and Kira. "Billy's clone tried to steal the power coins and my one nearly destroyed the city with my old Dragonzord," (Conner and Kira only just managed to stop themselves from showing a reaction to the reference to the Zord that had so recently nearly destroyed them) "and both times it was a bit of a close call."

He looked at the two new arrivals curiously. "If it's possible for you to answer this without affecting history, could you tell us what _kind_ of clone this is? One created directly from the source, or just a more basic kind of duplicate?"

"Oh… he's a pretty basic copy, really," Kira said; after all, if the clone was already here, she and Conner should be able to give Doctor O.'s past self _some_ information about it if the Rangers were going up against it, just so long as they avoided any specifics about how the clone had been created. "He was created by some kind of duplicating ray, I think; there's no real trace of the original in it- or him, or whatever you want to call that guy- at all."

"Right…" Tommy said, as he turned to look back at the clone on the viewing globe, and swallowed resolutely before glancing back at his team. "In that case, we should take him out now before things get too out of control."

"Wait a minute," Kira said, glaring critically at Tommy, once again slightly put off by the fact that the man she'd grown used to thinking of as her _teacher_ was currently the same age as her, "What do you mean, _we_? You guys are _not_ going at this alone; Conner and I are coming with you."

"She's right," Conner said, as he glanced back at the Rangers. "We're the only two people available who know what the White Ranger can do in a fight; you'll need our help if you're to stand any chance of walking away from this."

"CONNER IS CORRECT, RANGERS," Zordon put in. "IF WHAT WE HAVE SEEN IS AN ACCURATE DEPICTION OF THIS WHITE RANGER ON A REGULAR BASIS, HE GIVES THE IMPRESSION OF BEING A FORMIDABLE ADVERSARY; IT SHALL REQUIRE ALL THE ASSISTANCE THAT YOU CAN OBTAIN TO STOP HIM ONCE AND FOR ALL."

For a moment, Tommy seemed about to protest anyway, but then sighed and nodded as he looked back at Conner and Kira.

"OK, you're in," he said, nodding in assent. "Just… be careful, will you?"

Conner chuckled. "We're in the _past_ , my friend; shouldn't we be the ones telling _you_ to be careful?"

"Humour us, OK?" Aisha said casually, as the eight Rangers turned back to look at the viewing globe, Conner and Kira flicking their wrists to activate their morphers as the other six Rangers reached behind their backs for their own morphers.

"It's Morphin' Time!" Tommy yelled, as he and the other five Rangers held their morphers out in front of them, multicoloured lightning crackling around them. "White Ranger Power!"

"Black Ranger Power!"

"Pink Ranger Power!"

"Blue Ranger Power!"

"Yellow Ranger Power!"

"Red Ranger Power!"

Shifting into ready stance, Conner and Kira exchanged glances, and nodded resolutely.

"Dino Thunder, Power Up! HAH!" they cried, as they hit the buttons on their morphers and leapt into the air, landing back on their feet in their Ranger costumes…

Then, as though it had been an automatic part of the morphing process, the eight Rangers found themselves standing in Angle Grove Park, facing the White Ranger clone.

* * *

Meanwhile, up in the Moon palace, Zedd, Rita, Goldar and Zeltrax were watching the White Ranger's reign of destruction on Angel Grove unfold below them with a more than slight smile on all their faces- or, at least, the smile was on Rita and Goldar's faces; it was hard to tell with Zedd and Zeltrax if they were even looking in the right direction, never mind smiling.

"You recognise this… Ranger?" Zedd asked, looking curiously over at Zeltrax.

"Indeed," Zeltrax replied, flexing his fingers as he chuckled low in whatever passed for his throat. "That, my good Zedd, is the clone of the Dino Thunder White Ranger, created by my former 'master' to battle the Rangers. It is powerful, trust me; it shall prove to be a formidable adversary for the Power Rangers of this day and age."

"A clone, you say?" Zedd asked, as he looked curiously at Zeltrax. "Tell me… does this 'clone' have a power source similar to that of the ORIGINAL Rangers?"

As Zeltrax nodded in confirmation, Lord Zedd chuckled slightly.

Even if the White clone failed in his current task, he could still prove useful to Zedd…

Or, at least, his power source could…


	9. The Past Versus the Future

As the White Clone turned to look at them, the Drago Dagger at his side, he chuckled slightly at the various Rangers before him.

"Ah, you're here," he said, in that rough voice that always sounded to Conner like he was talking through a layer of mucus or similar substance. "I was wondering when you'd finally get the nerve to confront me; where was the _point_ in sending me back in time if you're not just going to take me out straight away, while I'm still uncertain about what happened to me, like the _wimps_ you are?"

"Maybe the fact that we didn't _plan_ this, Whitey?" Kira retorted, glaring in annoyance at the clone in front of her. "We're just as stuck here as you are; either you step aside and let us work on a way to get ourselves- as well as you- back home, or you can just get creamed by all _eight_ of us, OK?"

If his face had been visible, the White Clone would probably have been rolling his eyes as he stared around at the Rangers before him.

"You really think you scare me?" he asked, scorn evident in his voice. "I am expected to be scared of a team that has been out of action for several _years_?"

"Maybe we're out of practice back _when_ you come from," Aisha retorted, glaring angrily at the White Clone, "but that was… will be… and this is now. We're in our prime, and you're outnumbered and outgunned, facing no less than _six_ foes you have no experience in fighting. Personally speaking, I'd say you're in _serious_ trouble."

"She's got a point, you know," Adam said, raising his Blade Blaster slightly as he stared at their opponent. "You can't last against all of us; you must know that, right? From what I hear, you've only ever gone up against _three_ Rangers at any one time, and you've never managed to stop any of _them_. Why should you do any better against over twice that number, especially when you don't know what we're capable of?"

The White Clone merely chuckled as he glared at the Black Ranger.

"If nothing else, you are _not_ those Rangers; you cannot compare how they fared to how you shall cope with me," he said, as he looked around at his opponents; if they'd been able to see his face, Conner would have been prepared to bet that the clone was sneering at them. "For another, my ignorance of your skills is a double-edged weapon; _you_ do not know what _I_ can do, either."

As the Rangers tensed for action, the White Clone drew his Drago Dagger and raised it above his head.

"Now," he said, his red-tinted visor staring around at the other Rangers as he threateningly flexed his fingers on the hilt of the dagger, "let's go."

As soon as the words were out of his mouth, the clone had aimed the dagger at the other Rangers and fired a burst of laser arrows at the other Rangers, triggering a mass of explosions that sent the team flying.

As the Rangers desperately scrambled to their feet, Tommy- most likely motivated by a hatred of this perversion of his colour- took the lead in the assault. Drawing his sword, the White Ranger lunged towards the White Clone and brought his sword down onto the Drago Dagger as it aimed towards the Pink and Blue Rangers. This action drew the attention of the White Clone from his original targets and onto 'his' distant predecessor, who stared at the clone with a determined expression.

"You want a fight?" Tommy roared, glaring harshly at the duplicate of his distant 'successor' as he exerted all his strength in forcing Saba to hold down the Drago Dagger. "Then you fight _me_!"

Before the clone could reply, Tommy had swung Saba to the right, forcing the White' Clone's right arm away from his chest and allowing his foe to launch a punch at the clone's chest, sending the White Ranger staggering back. As the clone recovered, Aisha and Adam drew their Blade Blasters and fired at their opponent, sending the clone staggering back just in time for his back to meet Rocky's foot, the earlier Red Ranger launching a kick at the clone….

Only to have his leg grabbed in the clone's right hand as the white-and-black form steadied himself; like the real Rangers, the clone was a remarkably fast healer. Rocky suddenly found himself hurtling through the air to crash directly into Billy and Kira, sending all three of them crashing to the ground. Roaring in rage, the White Clone lunged towards his counterpart once more, Tommy rapidly exchanging sword blows with the other White warrior until the clone took one wild swipe at Tommy's chest, sending him staggering back.

Before Tommy could recover, the White Clone had gone into some sort of 'high-speed' mode, dashing rapidly around Tommy at such a rate that he could barely be seen. As Tommywas finallyhitinto the air, dazed from the numerous attacks that had just hit him, the White Clone spun around, raising the Drago Dagger in the process, and launched energy arrows at Kat, who'd been running forward in an attempt to aid her friend; the Pink Ranger only just managed to avoid the worst of the attacks.

" _This_ is the best the world has to offer?" the White Clone asked, glaring around at the assorted Power Rangers, his very posture indicating a relaxation and confidence that made it look as though he regarded this all as some big joke. "How it survived I have no idea; you're all pathe- UGH!" he grunted, as something struck him in the side of the helmet, sending him flying off to one side.

As he flew through the air, ignoring the disorientation he felt, the White Clone flipped his body rapidly, landing on the ground feet-first as he turned to glare at this opponent who dared to attack him…

He smiled; it was the Red Ranger _he_ knew.

 _Just the foe I wanted_ … he chuckled to himself. He knew it was mainly from his 'template', of course, rather than being his own original feelings about the matter, but he constantly resented the fact that the Red Ranger so effortlessly attracted the Yellow Ranger when neither of them even seemed to _realise_ it…

OK, so he didn't particularly _care_ if little Miss Ford actually _wanted_ him- or his template- when he finally had his 'wicked way' with her; the _principle_ of the thing still applied…

* * *

"You can insult my team, but insult the guys who created the legacy and you'll pay the price, clone-boy!" Conner yelled as the clone shifted into a combat stance, glaring at his last standing foe. Around the two of them, the other Rangers staggered to their feet as Conner stepped forward to glare at the duplicate of a man a part of him would always see as a rival. "If you think you're so tough, care to try for a rematch with me… _copycat_?"

The clone glared at Conner, tightening his grip on the Drago Dagger.  
  
"Don't call me that," he said harshly.  
  
"What, don't like being reminded that you're only second-rate?" Conner retorted, as he raised his Tyranno-Staff, ready to strike once more. "Get over it, willya? You'll _always_ be nothing but a cheap double, so why pretend otherwise… you big _fake_."  
  
Roaring in rage, the White Clone lunged angrily towards the Red Ranger, who quickly brought his Tyrann-Staff up to deflect the White Ranger's strike with the Dino-Dagger, following it up with a kick that sent the clone staggering.  
  
Behind the two of them, the other Rangers were now back on their feet, and ready to jump in and help out as soon as the Red Dino Ranger needed it. Kira and Tommy took a step forward, the Yellow Dino raising her Ptera Grips as the White Ranger drew Saba, but, glancing back at the sound- the clone was still disorientated from the last attack- Conner shook his head.  
  
"I can handle this!" he yelled over at his future mentor and teacher.  
  
"But-" Tommy began.  
  
"Hey, Rangers!" a voice yelled out from behind them. "Care to have a _real_ challenge right now?"  
  
"RITO!" Rocky and Tommy yelled, spinning around to glare at Rita's brother, who was standing there casually with a mass of tengas; Conner risked a glance over his shoulder while the White Clone was off-balance, and winced slightly at the repulsive sight of Rito Revolto, standing in front of the Rangers and evidently itching for a fight.  
  
 _And I thought_ Mesogog _was ugly_ … he thought to himself. His main foe may look like a mutated lizard, but at least the guy had all his flesh.  
  
This 'Rito' guy, on the other hand…  
  
Well, the resemblance between Rito and zombies was slight, but for Conner, walking skeletons evoked too many memories of zombie movies, which were a genre of movie he'd never really been able to get into no matter how hard he tried…  
  
Then he heard the White Clone aim the Drago Dagger at him, and forced his attention back to the battle at hand; he could get back to being disgusted by Rito's appearance once he'd dealt with his current foe.

* * *

"OK, that's just _gross_ ," Kira commented as she glared at Rito, trying to ignore the sounds of battle as Conner grappled with the White Clone; she knew that her Red Ranger could handle the problem, but she couldn't help worrying about him. "What happened to you; tried to fight in some war in the land of the dead?"

"Hey!" Rito retorted, glaring at Kira. "For your information, newbie, I happen to be quite the charmer where I come from!"  
  
 _OK, I did_ not _need to have that image_ … Kira thought to herself; if this guy was meant to be _cute_ back on his planet, she'd hate to see what an _ugly_ member of his species was meant to look like…  
  
"Let's just get this over with," Tommy sighed, glaring at Rito as he glanced over at the others. "OK guys, let's do it; Kira, Conner said he wanted to handle that alone, so you're with us until he seems to be in trouble."  
  
"Right," the other Rangers nodded, as they all stood in a line with Tommy, leaving Kira standing slightly behind them.  
  
" _Metallic Armour_ …" they yelled, as a rippling black circle with gold edging surrounded them. A bolt of lighting struck them, Kira vaguely heard them say " _Power up_!", and then their uniforms were suddenly glittering for some strange reason.  
  
Shrugging, Kira drew her Ptera grips once more and lunged into the mass of tengas, slashing at them rapidly as the other Rangers charged into the bird-warriors. As the Rangers moved, Kira vaguely noticed that their movements seemed somehow blurred for some reason, but passed it off as some extra effect of that 'Metallic Armour' stuff they'd activated before this fight began and got back to work.  
  
She had to admit, as far as foot soldiers went, these tengas were significantly easier to deal with than Tyrannodrones, and just a touch harder than Triptoids. Triptoids were fairly tough in numbers, and were typically more agile than Tyrannodrones, but they were generally easier to put down when it came down to a one-on-one fight than Tyrannodrones; the Rangers' heightened reflexes were more than a match for the Triptoids. Tyrannodrones, on the other hand, had a great deal more raw strength, and took more hits than Triptoids before they'd even _begin_ to fall down, but were slightly slower than the Triptoids, making it easier for the Dino Thunder Rangers to deliver the blows necessary to put them down.  
  
These 'tenga'guys were almost amixture of both Tyrannodrones and Triptoids, really; not quite as strong as the Tyrannodrones or as agile as the Triptoids, but enough of both to be a bit of a problem in a fight.  
  
Of course, they still weren't a match for her.

* * *

AN: The above information about the abilities of Mesogog's assorted foot soldiers may not be _totally_ accurate, but it's been a while since I saw both Tyrannodrones and Triptoids in action, so I'm just using what I can recall to make guesses about their abilities.

* * *

Ducking under a blow from one tenga, Kira slashed out with her Ptera Grips at another advancing foe, sending feathers flying as she kicked a third one in the beak.

Glancing around, she noticed that the Rangers seemed to be coping with the situation just as well as she was, albeit with that curious blur effect; she also noticed the Black, Yellow and Blue Rangers zip from one area to the other like they'd suddenly acquired Conner's superspeed, but put it out of her mind; it was probably some other trick of their powers that she didn't know about.

* * *

As Tommy ducked around the tengas, lashing out at the bird-like warriors whenever them came in close enough to touch, he couldn't help but spare a glance in the direction of the Red Dino Ranger, who was still struggling with the clone of _his_ team's White Ranger.

He had to admit, as far as Rangers went, he was already significantly impressed by the combat abilities demonstrated by these two new Rangers. From what he could tell, neither of them had received much formal training in any form of martial art before becoming Rangers- their more elaborate moves seemed sloppy and irregularly practiced, and they often seemed to resort to basic punches and kicks when pushed- but what moves they did know were intriguing.  
  
In fact, in many cases, their attacks seemed to echo some of his _own_ favourite moves to use in a fight…  
  
As two tengas lunged towards him, however, Tommy shook such thoughts out of his head and turned back to focus on the battle. If Conner and Kira could tell him about their training as Rangers, they would; if it affected the future in some way, they wouldn't.  
  
Right now, all he had to worry about was making sure that all of them survived for him to at least _try_ to ask the question.

* * *

As Kira continued to struggle with the tengas, alternating between slashing at them with her Ptera Grips and just kicking them when her arms felt like taking a brief rest, she only just managed to stop herself from letting out a wild whoop of joy as she tore through her foes. After all the confusion of getting trapped back here in the first place, it was a relief to be able to just cut loose and let off some steam in a fight…

Then a voice interrupted her train of thought.  
  
"Hey there, new girlie!" a voice called out from behind her, as the tengas she had initially been attacking pulled back, as though prepared to let the new speaker handle her now. "You're good with the birds; care to try and handle a _real_ monster?"  
  
 _Great_ … Kira groaned, as she spun around to face Rito Revolto, staring at her with a large sword in his hand and a wicked grin on his face; evidently he was pretty confident in his ability to beat her.  
  
"Well, if you want to get your ass kicked- or whatever you have instead of an ass, given the fact that you're only bone- who am I to stop you?" Kira said, trying to sound more casual than she felt as she discarded her Ptera Grips and activated her Thundermax Saber.  
  
She'd gone up against Tutenhawken and Zeltrax without the rest of the team in the past, and managed to hold her own, to say nothing of the numerous foot soldiers Mesogog possessed; she was reasonably sure she could handle a demented alien soldier skeleton…  
  
Then the 'skeleton' in question lunged forward, bringing his sword down on her Saber with such force that she felt like her arm had nearly broken, and she was forced to re-evaluate her estimate of how dangerous he was.  
  
 _Make that_ very _dangerous_ , she thought to herself, as, slowly but surely, Rito's sword inched closer and closer to her face...


	10. The Passion of Conner

" _Whoa_!" Conner yelled in shock, only narrowly leaping out of the path of the White Clone's latest energy arrows, using his Tyranno-Staff as a pole to vault over the blast. As he lunged forward, he kicked his opponent directly in the chest, preventing the clone getting off another shot as he staggered back, allowing the Red Ranger to land on his feet where the clone had stood earlier.

Staff in one hand, Conner reached to his belt and whipped out his Thundermax Pistol, launching a series of quick blasts at the White Clone, who only just managed to dodge the worst of them.

The Red Dino Ranger vaguely noticed the White Clone absorb a couple of the blasts into the Drago Dagger- the rest either did minimal damage or missed altogether- but he put that out of his mind and focused on the more immediate concern; survive the battle and defeat the White Clone.

For the moment, anything else was secondary.

"Ready to give up?" the White Clone asked, glaring over at Conner as he raised the Drago Dagger once more. "We're evenly matched, McKnight; you'll _never_ be able to defeat me soon enough to help your pathetic allies!"

"Don't call them pathetic," Conner growled, tightening his grip on the Tyranno-Staff as he remained focused on the clone; he was _not_ going to let the clone provoke him into making a mistake.

He'd been trained by the greatest living Ranger; he could keep his cool in a situation like this, no matter how bizarre it was…

"They're the best at what they do; all seven of them. It doesn't matter what time they're from, or where they got their powers from; they're _Power Rangers_ ," the Red Ranger said, glaring harshly at the clone before him. Honestly, this guy was a _clone_ of a Ranger, and he _still_ didn't get the whole point of why people were chosen to wield the power. "They can handle themselves, as well as looking out for each other."

"Really?" the White Clone asked, chuckling as he glanced at something over Conner's shoulder. "And yet Miss Ford seems to be having trouble with Mr Revolto while the other Rangers fight the tengas; hardly an efficient team system, wouldn't you agree?"

"KIRA!" Conner yelled in horror, as he spun around, his eyes widening in shock as he saw the girl who had been the object of his fantasies for so long strain desperately to maintain her footing as she forced her sword to strain against the sword of the skeleton-like 'Rito', who seemed to be taunting her mercilessly about her inability to hurt him as the blade began to inch ever closer to her neck…

As he turned away from his earlier foe, Conner vaguely heard the White Clone aim energy arrows at him- maybe even heard the arrows fire towards him, it was hard to be sure, it was only a couple of them if anything- but the Red Ranger didn't care.

The past version of his mentor was wrecking havoc in the future, the Dinozords were damaged, he was trapped around a _decade_ in the past, and, on top of everything else, the girl he loved was facing death at the hands of a monster who vaguely resembled a _Dawn of the Dead_ reject.

He'd had enough.

Enough of the clone that had plagued them for so long, enough of these tengas who'd had their time, enough of the Green Ranger just showing up and trashing their Zords, enough of being zapped almost a decade through time because of some stupid accident that he _still_ couldn't understand…

But, most of all, he'd had enough of his constant doubts about whether or not to tell Kira how he felt about her; in their line of work, that was hardly a sensible attitude to have.

Hell, they faced death on an almost _regular_ basis; if he didn't tell her _today_ , he may never have the chance to do so _tomorrow_.

He had to save her, even if she didn't feel the same way about him that he did about her.

If it meant embarrassing himself beyond recovery when she asked him why he'd done something so stupid as to try and save her when he was in the middle of his own battle, than so be it; he'd cross that bridge when he came to it.

He was _not_ going to allow Kira to die here.

He didn't even stop to think; Conner leapt into the air, dodged over the energy arrows that the clone had fired earlier, spun backwards towards the shocked clone, the spiralling Tyranno-Staff in his hands giving him the appearance of some bizarre kind of helicopter, before his feet hit the ground and he lashed out at his foe with the Tyranno-Staff.

As the White Clone was sent flying by the force of the impact, Conner tossed the staff aside, pulled out the Triassic Shield, and, not even bothering to register the fact that Ethan wasn't here to provide the extra power, never mind that Kira couldn't help out either, raised it above his head.

"Triassic Ranger power… _NOW_!" he roared.

Sitting up where he had hit the ground, the White Clone could only watch in shock and confusion as the gold armour of the Triassic Ranger spread over the body of the Red Dino Thunder Ranger, enhancing his strength, his speed, his power…

Conner was just about to leap into action, barely even registering that what he had done should have been impossible, but then he glanced at his wrist and noticed, much to his surprise, that his morpher had changed along with the rest of his costume.

Normally, even in Triassic Ranger form, the morpher's appearance was fairly straightforward; a red Tyrannasaurus Rex head with green eyes, a silver jaw, and silver streaks around the nose. Now, for some reason, it had changed into a shape that looked like the head of the Mezodon Rover that served as the Triassic Ranger's Zord. The most notable differences between the zord and the new morpher were that the horns on the morpher were gold, rather than gold with touches of green or blue like the head of the zord, and the jaw was also gold rather than red.

Conner didn't question this sudden change; he just knew, more than he'd ever known anything in his life- except for the fact that he loved Kira Ford- that this new morpher was a good thing.

And he had to try it out _soon_ if he wanted Kira to stay alive over the next few moments.

* * *

Conner's momentary pause was all the White Ranger needed to start building up his confidence to attack his foe once again.

 _Ha_! The White Clone laughed as Conner McKnight stood in front of him, clad in the gold armour of the Triassic Ranger. _Does he think I'm an_ idiot _or something? It may have been a bit of a shock to see him transform like that on his own, but there's no_ way _he can maintain that form for long without any energy backup from the Yellow and Blue Rangers_! _It may be a little trickier now, but I can_ still _outlast him_ easily!

Then McKnight suddenly tapped his morpher again- for once not bothering to make a statement of some kind, as though this moment was so solemn commands were unnecessary- and, as a gold glow surrounded him, the White Clone instantly re-evaluated his earlier thoughts.

 _Wait a minute…_ the White Clone thought to himself, as two large metal objects suddenly seemed to _sprout_ from his foe's back as the glow continued to cover the Red Ranger. _The Triassic Ranger could never do_ that _before_ …

As the White Clone watched in horror- most of the other combatants, Ranger and monster alike, turning to do the same, pausing in their immediate struggles to watch this sight before them- a gold glow covered the Red Ranger from the future, spreading across his upper body as he stretched out his arms, as though enjoying the feel of a warm shower.

As the glow faded, the Red Dino Ranger was visible once more, dressed in an elaborate set of armour unlike anything the various villains, to say nothing of the other Rangers, had ever seen before.

As with the Triassic Ranger, an elaborate gold design that looked like both dinosaur 'armour' and flames now surrounded the edges of the Red Ranger's visor, giving his helmet a certain edge that it lacked when he was just the Red Ranger.

However, a notable difference from the Triassic Ranger was that his chest was now covered in thick red armour, with lethal-looking gold triangles pointing at the centre of his chest, as two red shoulder-pads that resembled the 'frill' of a Triceratops stretched out from the armour to cover his shoulders.

His arms were now encased in a black material rather than the typical red spandex, and both fists were covered by elaborate gloves; one glove resembled the head of a Mezodon, with gold horns and a blue 'jaw', while the other glove was a thick red point that looked like a tail of some sort. Thick blue points were attached to his hips, two for each leg, and he wore black-and-gold boots.

However, all of these features appeared irrelevant in the face of what had suddenly appeared on his back; two large spike-like objects attached to his shoulders. The spikes stretched up to at least three feet above his head, with two pieces of sharp blue metal at the end. They were red with a touch of gold around the middle, and looked like a combination of guns and claws.

Put simply, Conner McKnight, Red Dino Thunder Ranger, now looked _extremely_ dangerous.

In the silence that suddenly descended over the battlefield in that moment, it was Rocky who broke the silence, staring in admiration at the armour of the young man who would someday inherit his colour and- in a sense- his power.

"OK; now _that_ is cool," he said, staring at Conner's armour in admiration. "How come I never got something like that?"

As though it was a signal, the monsters prepared to launch another attack, the tengas once again lashing out at the Rangers of the present once more, leaving the Dino Rangers to fend for themselves in the ongoing struggle with the two prime monsters.

* * *

Although the original Power Rangers were handling themselves well enough in battle with the tengas, for the Yellow Dino Thunder Ranger, the fight was still proving to be far harder than anything she'd experienced in the past. Taking advantage of Kira's momentary distraction at Conner's latest upgrade, Rito kicked out at the would-be singer with one foot, taking advantage of the fact that she was still straining against his sword with her Thundermax Saber, and thus was too focused on one target to deflect a less obvious attack.

The sudden move from Rito, striking her directly in the chest, caught the Yellow Dino Thunder Ranger by surprise, knocking her off-balance and sending her to the ground as she lost her grip on the Saber, gasping for breath as she clutched her stomach.

"Well well," Rito chuckled, as he raised his sword to bring it down into his foe's chest, Kira only able to stare up as she desperately gasped for breath to refill her now-empty lungs. "Looks like the future's going to be missing a Yellow Rang-"

"NO!" Conner's voice yelled out, somehow sounding clear to Kira over the noise of battle that still waged around them…

And then, to Kira's complete surprise and confusion, what seemed to be Conner's arms (Given the dark material that they were made of and the glove-like items on the end) suddenly _stretched_ over her, as though his arms had become extendable ladders, to hit Rito sharply in the chest.

The force of the blow was so great that it left Kira's would-be killer staggering backwards in surprise, and the Triassic Battlizer Ranger was suddenly standing in front of Rito, hands raised in a combat stance as he glared at the skeleton-like warrior, his entire body tensed and ready to strike.

"If you want her," Conner growled at Rito, reminding Mister Vile's son briefly of an _extremely_ annoyed Goldar who'd already been having a bad day, "you'll have to go through _me_."

Before Rito could say anything, Conner had lashed out with a powerful punch from the head-shaped 'glove', striking Rito in the shoulder with such force that the being who had once destroyed the Ranger's Thunderzords was actually sent staggering back.

Drawing the Triassic Shield once more, Conner slashed angrily at Rito with the blade, once again sending the skeleton staggering back as Conner struck him repeatedly.

As a final strike with the Triassic Shield's 'sword' sent Rito flying backwards from the force of the blow, Conner discarded the Triassic Shield, and walked forward to face Rito as he crashed to the ground.

As the 'claws' on the Triassic Ranger's back aimed towards Rito, energy began to crackle around them, prompting a nervous gulp from Rito as he stared anxiously back at his opponent.

"Uh… any chance at all that we could talk about this?" he asked anxiously, his eyes flicking from Conner's newly-acquired weapons to the other Rangers, as though he was trying to decide which foe he was least afraid of.

" _No_ ," Conner said simply.

Staring back at the Triassic Ranger, now looking extremely willing to fry his opponent into something resembling char-grilled burger, Rito seemed to come to a decision himself.

"Uh… gotta go!" he said, as his body transformed into red energy and vanished, his head briefly bouncing on the ground for a few seconds before disappearing along with the rest of him.

Conner blinked in surprise.

He certainly hadn't been expecting Rito to be able to get away from the fight _that_ easily.

Then again, he _was_ more used to dealing with foes who used invisiportals to teleport; those things were typically rather hard to find, and they generally gave you more warning about when they were being used than Rito's method of teleportation did.

With that in mind, he couldn't really blame himself for being taken by surprise; he'd become so used to dealing with a specific adversary during his nearly year-long career as a Power Ranger that he'd been fighting as though he was still dealing with _Mesogog's_ forces, rather than Lord _Zedd_ 's.

Then he heard the sound of the White Ranger firing energy arrows from the Drago Dagger, and, spinning around, he found himself once again facing the clone of his 'rival', just as the arrows began to fly towards him.

If Conner had still been just the _Red_ Ranger, the attack would probably have managed to knock him down, even if it didn't stop him.

But right now, he was the _Triassic_ Ranger- more importantly, he had now become the _battleized_ Triassic Ranger.

And that gave him a significantly greater amount of options in dealing with the White Clone's current attack.

Raising the Triassic Shield, Conner quickly absorbed or deflected the energy arrows, sending the White Clone staggering back as his own blasts struck him directly in the chest; even the few that _didn't_ hit the White Clone struck an enemy target, flying off to hit the remaining tengas as they tried to defeat the other Rangers.

Before the clone could get back onto his feet, Conner was soon standing over his foe, the blade of the Triassic Shield pointing at the White Clone's neck, his hands tightly clenched over the weapon as the two of them stared at each other.

"You're _done_ ," Conner growled, as the White Clone stared up at the Triassic Ranger, the clone's rage and frustration evident despite the helmet that concealed his head and his current silence.

Enraged at the Triassic Ranger's defiance (Coupled with at least a hint of desperation), the White Clone tried to raise the Drago Dagger and fire it at Conner, but Conner kicked it out of his hand, grabbed the White Clone by the neck, and hurled him into a nearby mass of tengas who had been giving Kat and Rocky some trouble in the other Rangers' battles.

To Conner's surprise, that action seemed to be enough to end the fight; at least, for the tengas. The bird-like warriors took one look at the White Clone lying among them, glanced briefly at each other, and then, launching attacks that sent the Rangers briefly staggering away from them all, grabbed the clone by the arms before flying up into the air, the semi-conscious White Clone dangling below them.

* * *

For a moment, as the eight Rangers stared up at the sight of their vanishing adversaries, there was only silence.

Then, one of them spoke.

"C… Conner?" a voice said from behind the Triassic Ranger, who'd been staring up at the rapidly-vanishing form of the White Clone as though trying to decide whether or not to continue shooting at it.

It was Kira.

She was still alive.

Conner didn't even stop to think; he instinctively powered down and, before he knew it, his arms were wrapped around Kira.

"Oh God, I'm sorry," he said, barely even registering what he was saying to her. "I wasn't there… I nearly didn't make it… you could have _died_ … I'd have had to watch you die… I can't…"

A brief flash of light made him pause, and then the feel of Kira's hair against his chin made him pull away; he realized that the other Rangers had powered down and were now looking at him in confusion. Quickly glancing around, Conner made his decision- having six other people watching him was _not_ how he wanted to tell Kira how he felt- and stood up, an awkward expression on his face.

"Uh… sorry about that," he said, looking around awkwardly at the other Rangers. "I think it was just… y'know, getting stuck back in the past like this and… well, nearly losing the only person I actually _know_ here? It… well, it kinda pushed me over the edge for a bit, I guess."

"Ah," Tommy said, nodding briefly in a manner that showed he didn't entirely believe Conner's story but was prepared to let it go for the moment.

Kira couldn't really blame her future mentor, to be honest; she was just as certain that there was something about Conner's actions just then that none of them knew about, but she didn't like to even _think_ what it might have been…

Because, if it turned out to be wrong, and he _didn't_ feel that way about her, she really wasn't sure how she'd cope with having her hopes being dashed like that.

Fortunately for Conner, before Kira could come to a decision about whether or not to ask him if there was something else behind his words, Billy chose that moment to speak, stopping any potential questions on the topic for the moment.

"What you just morphed into there; was that the 'Battilizer' you mentioned?" he asked, eyes gleaming eagerly as he looked at the Red Ranger from the future. "I thought you said you required the aid of the other Rangers to access that level of power?"

"Well… he _does_ need our help, normally," Kira said, looking inquiringly at Conner. "Any ideas about how that happened?"

"Uh… no… not really," Conner said, shaking his head uncertainly. Kira instinctively felt that this was the same kind of answer as when he'd explained why he'd acted so scared about her near-death experience; mostly honest, but there'd be something extra he wasn't telling them.

"All I can really remember clearly about that is being… well, I guess I was just thinking about how I didn't want Rito to kill you," Conner continued, looking uncertainly at Kira as though he genuinely _wasn't_ sure what had happened. "Maybe I was just so determined for that _not_ to happen that I kinda… tapped into something I didn't even know was there?"

Billy looked like he was about to ask further questions, but then the communicators beeped. Sighing slightly, Tommy raised the watch-like device to his face and tapped the necessary button.

"Zordon, it's Tommy; go ahead," he said.

" _AN EXCELLENT JOB, RANGERS; IT WOULD APPEAR THAT, FOR THE MOMENT, ZEDD IS UNWILLING FOR THE WHITE RANGER CLONE TO ELIMINATE YOU_ ," Zordon's voice informed them over the communicator.

"Yeah, that's great and all; my only question is _why_ he was just dragged out of here like that," Conner said; he knew he should show a bit more respect when talking to the man who brought the first Power Rangers together, but he still couldn't quite get over how close he'd come to losing Kira for good. "Any ideas on that front? I mean, he wasn't perfect, but he _could_ have done more damage to us if he'd been given more time…"

" _UNFORTUNATELY, APHA AND I HAVE NO SUGGESTIONS AS TO ZEDD'S MOTIVES FOR THAT ACTION, CONNER. HOWEVER, WE_ DO _BELIEVE THAT WE HAVE COME UP WITH A PLAN THAT MAY HELP YOU AND KIRA RETURN TO YOUR HOME TIME_ ," Zordon explained, prompting a brief smile from Conner; that was the first bit of genuinely _good_ news he'd heard since arriving here. " _WE SHALL EXPLAIN IT IN MORE DETAIL ONCE YOU HAVE ALL RETURNED TO THE COMMAND CENTRE_."

"Right," Tommy said, as he terminated the communication link. He glanced over briefly at Conner and Kira, but they were already moving to stand beside Rocky and Aisha; their 'predecessors' appeared to have become their unofficial teleportation transporters for the Dino Thunder Rangers' time in the past. As Conner placed a hand on Rocky's shoulder, and Kira and Aisha linked arms, the present Rangers tapped their communicators…


	11. The Next Steps

And, once again, the eight of them were standing in the Command Centre, looking curiously up at Zordon as Alpha looked up from the console he had been standing at.

"So, what's this plan you mentioned, Zordon?" Adam asked, looking inquiringly up at the tube containing their mentor.

"IT IS UNCERTAIN, BUT ALPHA AND I BELIEVE THAT WE HAVE COME UP WITH A MEANS OF SENDING CONNER AND KIRA BACK TO THEIR HOME TIME," Zordon explained, as the Rangers spread out slightly around the Command Centre while the Eltarian wizard continued speaking. "THE COMMAND CENTRE HAS SCANS OF THEIR INSPATIAL BIO-VIBRATIONS CONTAINED IN ITS DATABANKS DUE TO THEIR RECENT TELEPORTATIONS, AND, AT PRESENT, CONNER AND KIRA ARE BOTH STILL SLIGHTLY OUT OF PHASE WITH THE NATURAL FLOW OF TIME IN THE PRESENT ERA. IF WE CAN GATHER ENOUGH POWER, IT MAY BE POSSIBLE TO USE THAT INSTABILITY TO TRANSFER THE TWO OF THEM BACK TO THEIR OWN TIME BY AMPLIFYING THE INSTABILITY SO THAT THEIR BODIES WOULD AUTOMATICALLY TRANSFER THEMSELVES TO A SAFE TIME PERIOD."

"Wait a minute; they'd revert to a _safe_ time period?" Rocky said, looking anxiously at Zordon. "What do you mean, _safe_? Is there something about being here that's _dangerous_ to Conner and Kira if they're not sent home?"

"NO, ROCKY; AT PRESENT, CONNER AND KIRA ARE PERFECTLY SAFE IN OUR TIME, AND THEY WILL REMAIN SO UNLESS UNFORESEEN EVENTS TAKE PLACE TO CHANGE THAT BALANCE," Zordon assured the Red Ranger, pleased at Rocky's instant concern for people he had only met a few hours ago. It was moments like that when Zordon knew that he made wise choices when the time came to select his Ranger team, as well as when he needed to choose their respective successors. "THIS DISPLACEMENT COULD ONLY BE A DANGER TO THEM IF IT IS ALLOWED TO INCREASE EXPONENTIALLY AT AN UNCONTROLLED RATE. HOWEVER, ALPHA AND I BELIEVE THAT, IF WE CAN GATHER ENOUGH COMPATIBLE RANGER ENERGY TO ACCELERATE AND CONTAIN THE ENERGY IN A POSITIVE MANNER- RANGER ENERGY GENERATED BY ALL EIGHT OF YOU SHOULD BE SUFFICIENT FOR THIS PURPOSE- WE SHALL BE ABLE TO TRANSFER CONNER AND KIRA BACK TO THEIR TIME, WITH NO ILL EFFECTS TO THEM OR OTHERS."

As Zordon finished speaking the other Rangers glanced over at Billy, who was looking at Conner and Kira with a thoughtful expression on his face; as much as they trusted Zordon and Alpha, a second opinion from their team's resident science expert on stuff like this was always welcome.

"Well, Billy?" Kat asked, looking curiously at her new friend. "What do you think?"

"It's… _possible_ , I have to admit…" Billy said, before a thought seemed to occur to him and he looked up at Zordon again, his face changing to one of concern. "Wait a minute… you said that we'd need _compatible_ Ranger energy from all _eight_ of us to open a portal?"

Conner and Kira's faces fell slightly as they looked at each other, although they tried not to make it too apparent how much they'd been hoping for this plan to work. Neither of them were experts when it came to their power sources- they'd always been content to let Doctor O. and Hayley worry about that- but it seemed like a pretty good guess that the Dino Gems wouldn't be compatible with the past Rangers' Ninja powers.

"So, not much hope for that plan working out, huh?" Kira asked, looking up at Zordon with a dejected expression.

"ON THE CONTRARY, KIRA," Zordon replied, smiling slightly at the future Yellow Ranger standing before him. "ALPHA AND I HAVE COME UP WITH THE PERFECT SOLUTION TO THIS PROBLEM; YOU AND CONNER MUST GO TO THE TEMPLE OF POWER AND CONTACT NINJOR."

No sooner had that sentence passed Zordon's lips then all the Rangers were staring at him and Alpha, shock and surprise evident on their faces as they looked at the two of them.

"Wait a minute… are you saying Ninjor can give them _Ninja_ powers?" Adam said, staring at Zordon in surprise.

"INDEED, ADAM," Zordon replied, nodding in confirmation at the Black Ranger.

"Uh, no offence, but we'd rather _not_ give up our current powers; we've kinda become attached to them, and they're still good for a while, I'm sure," Conner put in, raising his hand in a slightly uncertain manner as he looked at Zordon. "Plus, when we get back to the present- well, _our_ present; it's still your future- how can we still work with our… well, the _other_ Rangers from our time… the Zords and all that… if we've got different powers from them?"

"Oh, no worries there; Ninjor has been filled in on the situation that you two are in, and he assures us that the powers he will give you shall in no way interfere with your current powers," Alpha explained, sounding particularly eager about this news. "Theoretically, he thinks that he may be able to arrange things so that the two of you can use both of your Ranger powers at once, to say nothing of you retaining the powers you have at present."

"Wait a minute…" Aisha said, holing up a hand as she looked at Alpha, an excited gleam in her eyes. "Are you saying that they'd be both Dino Thunder Rangers _and_ Ninja Power Rangers?"

"Exactly," Alpha responded, sounding like he would have been smiling if he'd possessed a head that was designed for that sort of action; his body language certainly _looked_ pretty happy.

"Well… cool!" Conner said, smiling over at Kira. He had to admit, the prospect of having two powers s _imultaneously_ was definitely a tempting one, especially if his memory of what Doctor O. had told them about the Ninja Ranger powers was accurate…

"So, when do we go?" Rocky asked, looking inquiringly up at Zordon.

"UNFORTUNATELY, ROCKY, THERE IS NO POSSIBILITY THAT THE REST OF YOU WILL BE ALLOWED TO GO AS WELL," Zordon replied, looking apologetically at the Red Ranger. Rocky opened his mouth to protest, but Zordon continued speaking before the Red Ranger could get a word out. "NINJOR INSISTS THAT CONNER AND KIRA ALONE BE SENT TO THE TEMPLE TO MEET HIM; HE WISHES TO TEST THEM BOTH, TO ENSURE THAT THEY ARE WORTHY OF HOLDING THE POWER OF THE NINJA ON A LONG-TERM BASIS."

As he spoke, he turned to look at Conner and Kira, an apologetic expression on his face. "I MUST ALSO MENTION THAT NINJOR WISHES FOR YOU TO LEAVE YOUR DINO GEMS HERE; IF YOU ARE TO PROVE YOURSELVES WORTHY OF WIELDING THE NINJA POWERS, YOU MUST GO THROUGH CERTAIN TESTS TO PROVE YOU POSSESS THE PURITY OF SPIRIT NECESSARY TO CONTROL THEM. WE TRUST YOU, OF COURSE, BUT THAT IS SIMPLY THE WAY THIS HAS TO BE."

"Oh," Conner said, staring down at his Gem as he and Kira lapsed into silence. For a moment, nothing was said in the Command Centre, then Kira shrugged and removed the 'bracelet' that held the Gem.

"What the hell; we'd have needed to take these off for things to get done anyway," she said nonchalantly to Conner as she tossed the bracelet over to Billy. "While we're away, maybe you could see about doing that thing you mentioned- you know, reprogram the Shogunzords so that we can use them in the future?"

"Oh, yeah, thanks for reminding me," Billy said, as Conner removed his Dino Gem and passed it to the first Blue Ranger. "I'll see what I can do, I promise."

Conner nodded gratefully to the Blue Ranger, and then looked back up at Zordon. "So, how do we get to the temple?"

"YOU SHALL BE TELEPORTED TO THE LOCATION WHERE ALPHA AND I FIRST LOCATED THE ORIGINAL POWER COINS, AND THEN YOU MUST FIND THE TEMPLE OF POWER," Zordon explained. "ONCE THERE, YOU MUST GO THROUGH SELECT TESTS CHOSEN BY NINJOR TO PROVE THAT YOU ARE WORTHY TO COMMAND THE NINJA POWERS, AND THEN YOU SHALL RETURN TO US."

"Seems fair enough," Conner said, as he and Kira glanced over at each other and nodded resolutely before looking back up at Zordon. "OK, we're ready; let's…"

* * *

"…go," the Red Dino Thunder Ranger finished, blinking in surprise as he stared around at his surroundings. For reasons unknown, Zordon must have teleported him and Kira out mid-sentence; they were now standing in a vast desert, in front of a distinctive-looking rock formation, a map in Kira's hand that seemed to indicate that what they were looking for was in the rock formation before them.

"Oh," Kira said, studying the map in surprise. "Well… that was odd."

"Where's the point in giving us a map if they're just going to stick us right outside the temple?" Conner asked, looking over in Kira's direction.

"Must be more to make sure we don't do and get lost," Kira said, as she studied the rock formation before them. "I mean, that cave seems to be the only sign that there's _anything_ in these rocks; why would we think it's the way to the temple otherwise?"

Conner nodded briefly, acknowledging her point, and then sighed and glanced over at her. "Coming along?" he asked, jerking his head towards the cave.

Nodding resolutely, Kira walked towards the cave, Conner close behind her.

* * *

" _Damnit_!" Zeltrax yelled as he turned away from the Repulsascope- a remarkable piece of work for something that looked like a simple telescope, he had to admit- to glare at Zedd. "This is all going _wrong_!"

"In what way?" Zedd asked, turning to glare critically at the cyborg- Rita and Finster were currently in the laboratory working on something, and Zeltrax had no real idea where Goldar and Rito had gone.

"Have you _looked_ at the situation recently?" Zeltrax yelled, jerking his thumb back at the form of Earth below them. "Not _only_ did your _idiotic_ forces _fail_ to stop the Rangers- what kind of threat are a bunch of birds, anyway- but now _my_ Rangers are going off to acquire an upgrade from some sucker called Ninjor, and you are doing precisely _what_ about dealing with it?"

Glaring at Zeltrax, Zedd stalked over to stand directly in front of the cyborg, brandishing his staff in the face of the future nemesis of Tommy Oliver.

" _Never_ question me, fool!" he yelled, as he stared at Zeltrax. A part of Zedd had to admit that he admired Zeltrax's refusal to back down from him, but the rest of him was too focused on his anger.

Then, calming down slightly, he stepped back slightly to look at Zeltrax. "If you _must_ know, the next stage in my plan to destroy the Rangers is simply proving more difficult than I initially anticipated; with the failure of that _clone_ , I decided that his power source could be put to better use in a past project of mine that didn't quite work out."

"That being?" Zeltrax asked, looking critically at Zedd.

Zedd, however, just chuckled slightly.

"You'll have to wait and see…" was all the self-proclaimed 'Emperor of Evil' would say, as he turned around and walked back to his throne. "Let's just say… there shall soon be a _serpent_ among the Rangers' precious 'garden' of Angel Grove…"


	12. Confessions and Upgrades

As they entered the cave, Conner couldn't contain a small sigh of frustration as he failed to see anything that could help him or Kira discover the entrance to the Temple of Power. As far as he could see, the cave just went a few metres into the rock and then abruptly terminated, a faint light the only indication that there was anything remarkable about this cave beyond its location in the 'Desert of Despair'.

"Is this it?" he asked, glancing over at Kira. "Is this all some elaborate joke, or did Doctor O. say something about the entrance to this place that I'm forgetting right now?"

"Maybe…" Kira said, nodding thoughtfully as she studied the cave around her, tapping her chin thoughtfully. "It's been a while since I read the records, but I _think_ , if what I remember from Doctor O.'s information about this place was right, there's a concealed entrance somewhere around here…"

Reaching out to a nearby wall, Kira began to run her hands over the rock, stopping when she reached a section of the rock that proved to be less solid than appearances would suggest; her hand passed right _through_ the wall with a glow and crackle of yellow energy.

Looking back at Conner, Kira raised an eyebrow and smiled at him.

"Shall we?" she asked.

Conner nodded. "Yeah, let's go," he said, a slightly resigned expression on his face as he stared at the wall, tensing himself up for a moment, and then walking straight through the wall to vanish in a crackle of red energy.

Kira waited for a second or two to allow him time to get out of the way of the entrance- she wasn't sure how this thing worked, and didn't want to risk materialising _in_ Conner rather than some distance away from him- and then walked through the 'door' in the wall before them…

* * *

To come out in a large garden, filled with all kinds of greenery, and find Conner facing some kind of massive stone creature that looked like some bizarre combination of a Japanese samurai and the Thing from the _Fantastic Four_ comics. It wasn't quite as bulky as the man who had once been known as Ben Grimm, and it looked a bit smoother around the edges than the Thing had ever been- from what she could see under its armour, anyway- but it was still bulky enough to be a _significant_ threat.

" _Conner_!" Kira screamed, staring in horror at the sight before her.  
  
" _Get out of here, Kira_!" Conner yelled back at her, desperately ducking underneath a sword-blow from his opponent as he spun around to stare in her direction. "I'll hold it off, but _one_ of us needs to get back to stop this crap from happening!"  
  
 _No_! Kira thought to herself, as Conner tried desperately to stay ahead of his adversary's sword. He was doing a decent job, true, but it was evident that he'd come to rely too much on his dino-power of superspeed in a combat situation like this. When they'd given their Dino Gems to the other Rangers, something must have happened to their Dino Powers to ensure they kept this 'test' fair…  
  
Kira shook her head violently to clear her thoughts; the fine print about _what_ had happened to prevent them from accessing their Dino Powers at the moment wasn't important.  
  
What mattered was that Conner was in trouble, and Kira was the only person available to help him at the moment.  
  
Glancing around, her eyes fell on a couple of nearby large rocks. They weren't that much in the way of a weapon, but they might just be enough…  
  
Diving off to the side, Kira grabbed one of the rocks in her hands and hurled it towards the creature, unable to contain a brief " _Yes_!" as the rock struck the creature's shoulder, sending it staggering back. As it turned to look at Kira, its attention diverted from Conner at last, Kira hurled the second rock, smiling once again as it struck the creature in the face; it seemed as though it was relatively fast when attacking, but when it came to defending itself, it was hardly the fastest thing on the planet.  
  
All she needed to do was find a couple more decent-sized rocks, hit this sucker in the head a few more times, and she and Conner _should_ be able to reach the temple before things went too far…  
  
Then the creature began to charge towards her, its sword outstretched, and she was forced to desperately dive to one side before it could impale her to the next available surface. As she dived out of the way, she vaguely registered Conner charging after the creature, but for the moment she was too busy focusing on regaining her breath to do something about it…  
  
As she staggered back onto her feet, Kira heard a loud clunk from the direction Conner had just charged after the creature. Looking up, she saw that Conner had grabbed a nearby rock and, lunging onto the creature's back, had struck it directly in the head, sending the creature staggering forward slightly to crash into another rock. As it turned around, Kira saw that its nose had been damaged by the attack, but otherwise its face appeared to be intact.  
  
Its eyes flashing red as it stared in his direction, the creature raised its sword to strike at Conner, but as soon as its lower quarters seemed reasonably undefended, Kira had charged forward, hitting it in the leg with such force that, even given the creature's greater mass, it was sent staggering backwards  
  
As Kira rolled out of the path of the creature's retaliatory kick, the rock clutched in his hand, Conner leapt forward, striking the creature in the face with as much strength as he could muster without his Ranger abilities. A loud roar of pain sounded from the creature's throat as it reached up to grab Conner, but the Red Ranger had already released his grip on his opponent's neck and had leapt backwards to escape the attack. Glancing up, Kira saw that the creature's left eye- each one originally glowing a deep, threatening blue- was now cracked, as though it were made of glass, and a thick green substance was leaking out of a larger crack stretching from the creature's forehead to the left corner of its mouth.  
  
"We've got it on the ropes!" Kira yelled to Conner as he leapt back onto his feet and glanced over in her direction. "Another couple of hits like that, and it's finished!"  
  
"Right!" Conner said, nodding back at her. "I'll see about finding another rock; you-"  
  
"GET DOWN!" Kira yelled, leaping to her feet and diving towards Conner, sending him flying back just as the creature lunged forward with its sword in an attempt to stab Conner in the side. Kira winced as she felt the blade touch her back, but she tried to put it out of her mind; so long as Conner was still alive and she wasn't _seriously_ injured, she could cope with a bit of discomfort.  
  
Then she moved her arm slightly, sending a very prominent ache through her entire side and causing her to gasp for air, and she re-evaluated just how much damage she'd taken; it felt like the blade had gone further in than she'd thought.  
  
 _This isn't good_ … she thought to herself, pain shooting through her side as she tried to take another breath.  
  
She wasn't going to die, but she definitely _wasn't_ in a very good shape…  
  
" _Kira_!" Conner yelled, as he looked down at the Yellow Ranger who'd just knocked him out of the way of the creature, blood leaking from the long scratch in her stomach as she lay on top of him, clutching her side as she looked at him.  
  
"Go…" she whispered, staring back at him anxiously. "You _have_ to go… you _have_ to get the power… _one_ of us has to get back…"  
  
" _No_!" Conner insisted, as he reached up to clasp Kira's shoulders and stare at her. "I'm _not_ leaving you here!"  
  
Then, before he knew what he was doing, before he'd even had the time to fully process the consequences of his actions, in a single moment of desperate fear and passion, Conner leaned forward and pressed his lips against Kira's.

* * *

It was only after his lips had parted from Kira's that Conner realised three things.

One, he'd just done the very thing he'd always, _always_ promised himself he'd never do; he'd kissed a girl who he… cared for… despite the fact that he _knew_ that she was in love with someone else.  
  
Second, her top was no longer covered in blood; indeed, from what he could feel, with his hands still holding Kira, her entire side had healed itself.  
  
Thirdly, the creature they'd been fighting had just vanished, to be replaced by an almost sheepish-looking figure in massive blue and gold armour who was standing in front of the doors of what had to be the Temple of Power.  
  
"I acknowledge that my timing could be better, but I would like to apologise for the rather… volatile nature of that test," the creature said, as Conner and Kira stared up at him, for the moment unsure how to react. "I simply allowed the magic of the Temple free reign to come up with a means of appropriately testing your spiritual worthiness to receive Ninja powers; I had no idea it would be as dangerous as that."  
  
After a moment's pause, Conner and Kira finally spoke.  
  
"WHAT!" they yelled, both of them leaping to their feet to stare incredulously at the figure standing before them.  
  
"You mean that was a _test_?" Kira yelled angrily at the blue figure in front of them; she vaguely registered that the figure seemed to be Ninjor, the being who'd created the original Power Coins, but she was too focused on being angry at the moment. "I could have _died_ in a _test_? I nearly lost a _lung_ because you wanted to make sure we could _cope_ with this power?"  
  
"Yes, well, as I said, I didn't _exactly_ think it would turn out quite like this…" Ninjor said as he looked awkwardly at the two Rangers.  
  
"Oh, you _didn't THINK_ -" Kira began, stepping forward to glare ever more at the blue warrior before her, but stopped as Conner place a hand on her shoulder, pulling her back slightly as he stepped forward to look at Ninjor.  
  
"Uh… putting aside the fact that we really _don't_ appreciate being attacked for a 'test', did we do well?" he asked, looking awkwardly at the ninja master before him.  
  
"Oh, rest assured, Conner McKnight, you and Kira Ford have passed my test with the proverbial flying colours," Ninjor replied, as he looked over at the Red Dino Thunder Ranger; if his face had been visible, he would doubtless have been smiling at Conner. "Can you guess why?"  
  
"We… proved that we're prepared to fight even if we _don't_ have any powers?" Conner said, looking at Ninjor uncertainly.  
  
"Close, but not the entirety of the test," Ninjor replied, waving a hand at Conner in a prompting manner. "It also taught you both…"  
  
Turning to look at Kira once again, Conner swallowed slightly, and then, knowing that he'd have to admit it now or possibly _never_ get the chance, and then spoke.  
  
"That we- or _I_ , at least- need to actually tell us how we feel about each other," Conner said, sighing as he looked back at Kira. "Because… in our line of work… no matter what else we think… the next mission might be the one we don't come back from."  
  
As Kira looked at him in confusion, Conner sighed, swallowed slightly and turned to look at her.  
  
"Kira…" he began, looking uncertainly at her as he tried to think of the best way to say what he wanted to say, before deciding to just say it.  
  
"I've… well, I've… kinda… had… _feelings_ for you… for a while now- actually, you could say that… I… love you," he said, shifting his head slightly as he tried to look at everything but the Dino Thunder Yellow Ranger, not wanting to see her face when she had to tell him she didn't feel the same way. "I didn't want to tell you because… well, I knew how you felt about Trent, I didn't want to make things difficult, and I actually _do_ care about our friendship-"  
  
However, Conner was never able to say more than that; as soon as she'd had the time to process what he'd just told her, Kira had grabbed Conner and pulled him up to her before kissing him a second time, only pulling back when oxygen was becoming an issue.  
  
Noting her friend's slightly startled expression, Kira smiled at him.  
  
"Just to clarify, seeing as how it took you this long to figure out that I _don't_ have any sort of feelings for Trent, I love you too," Kira said, a teasing grin on her face as she looked at the Red Ranger.  
  
For a moment, the two Rangers just stared at each other, uncertain what else they could say to each other, until Ninjor finally broke the silence with a slight chuckle.  
  
"So, now that _this_ bit of business is attended to, shall we get down to why you came here in the first place?" he said, as he looked between Conner and Kira. As the two Rangers nodded, he smiled in approval as he indicated the Temple of Power. "Just step inside there, and I'll be with you in a minute."

* * *

A few moments later, Conner and Kira stood inside the Temple of Power, eyes closed and heads bowed as they clasped hands, multi-coloured energy crackling around their arms. Ninjor stood off to one side, looking at them approvingly for a moment (Along with a hint of satisfaction; it had been a long time since he'd been able to help Rangers beyond just giving them powers) before he began to speak.

"I shall guide you in your quest for knowledge and power," he began, walking slowly around Kira and Conner as their clothes shimmered, changing into the cloth garments of the Ninja Rangers. The suits remained unsettled, constantly shifting colours slightly, but Ninjor knew that this was only a temporary thing.  
  
"Older than time itself- man has always known the calling…" Ninjor continued, continuing to stare at Conner and Kira as he walked, the Ninja energy around them almost a solid thing. "Light of the light, strength of the soul, ignite this eternal power inside of me. I am _Ninja_! I am pure of heart, body, mind, and spirit. Join with me now as I become one with the power of Ninja…"  
  
Pausing for a moment, he smiled as he stared at their costumes, which had now settled into their new colours. Conner's outfit was a deep green, the same colour as had once been wielded by Tommy, while Kira, Ninjor noted with a slight degree of surprise, was in purple; it had been a long time since he'd seen a Ranger in _that_ colour.  
  
"Your journey is complete," he said, as he looked approvingly at them. "Open your eyes and claim your destiny."  
  
Conner and Kira did so, and instantly released their grip on each other's hands, the better to stare at their new costumes.  
  
"Whoa…" Conner said, half to himself, as he stared at his new costume, the colour that had once belonged to his mentor and was now uniquely his.  
  
"Yeah, I know," Kira said, as she studied her costume for a moment, lost in thought as she admired the colour. Even if it wasn't quite what she was used to, a part of her was secretly rather proud that she had just become the first _Purple_ Ranger…  
  
"Wait a minute…" she said, her brow furrowing in confusion as she looked up at Ninjor. "What's with the new colours? When the other Rangers came here, they just had the same colours in their Ninja form as they had before!"  
  
Ninjor smiled reassuringly. "It's quite simply, Miss Ford," he explained. "Unlike with the Rangers of the present, you two have no previous connection to the Morphing Grid that could be readily accessed by the ninja power."  
  
"But… what about our Dino Gems?" Conner said, indicating the wrist where their gems would have been normally. "Hayley told me that _they_ accessed the Morphing Grid-  
  
"Your Dino Gems access a different _kind_ of grid energy to that available to the Power Coins," Ninjor explained, as he turned to look at Conner. "Under the 'rules' that govern _that_ level of morphing energy, you are the Red and Yellow Rangers, true, but under the rules of the Ninja power, you are the Green and Purple Rangers."  
  
He paused for a moment, as though giving them time to process what he had, and then continued with the words of the ritual.  
  
"You now possess the power of Ninja deep within your souls," he explained, indicating a door a short distance away from the main entrance. "Come and learn of your new gifts."  
  
With that, he turned and walked out of the door he'd just pointed out, leaving Conner and Kira to follow him, still staring at their new costumes in awe as they felt their new power flowing through them.


	13. New Zords, NewOld Danger

As they walked out of the door Ninjor had walked through, Conner and Kira found themselves standing in an even larger garden, staring out at a vast, open desert landscape. As they stared out, the faint forms of two large animals appeared before them, one running along the ground while the other flew through the sky above it.

"Behold the power, grace, and beauty of your new Ninjazords!" Ninjor said, sounding almost proud as he stared at the advancing zords. "These zords represent the swift, intelligent cunning of the Ninja warrior, and are infused with the power of light and strength. While your current zords possess the brutal strength of the dinosaurs, these zords possess the stealth and cunning of the ninja. Trust in their powers, and they shall serve you well.

"Conner," he said, turning to look at the Red Dino Thunder Ranger, "you are the Green Puma, quick and lethal; you must open yourself to its powerful instincts for knowledge of the difference between what is the _right_ choice, and what is the _easy_ choice.

"Kira," he continued, as he faced the first Purple Ranger of Earth, "you are the Purple Eagle; allow yourself to experience its focus and speed, and you shall go far in whatever path your life shall take you."

As Conner and Kira stared out in awe at their new zords, Ninjor waved one hand, and, for a moment, the two Dino Thunder Rangers felt as though they and their zords were…

 _One_.

That was the only way either of them could describe it. For a moment, as they looked down at their bodies, they weren't Conner McKnight and Kira Ford; they were their _zords_.

In that moment, Conner had become a zord that reminded him of a repainted, more compact White Tigerzord- the kind Doctor O. had used when he first became the White Ranger- and Kira had become a purple eagle that, once again, evoked mental images of one of Doctor O.'s past zords- in her case, Zeo Zord V, but with a longer wingspan and a larger body to match.

The feeling was like nothing they'd ever experienced before.

It was incredible.

It was breathtaking.

And in that moment, the two of them knew.

They _were_ these animals.

With the part of him that was still in control of his own body, Conner stepped forward, raising his arms in a martial arts stance.

"I am the Puma!" he yelled, raising his hands to the sky above him. "Fast and lethal! We are _one_!"

"I am the Eagle!" Kira yelled, stepping forward to perform the same action. "Focused and sleek! We are _one_!"

As they raised their hands, the two zords in front of them glowed with their respective colours, before turning into a long stream of Ranger-coloured energy. The energy hurtled towards Conner and Kira, surrounding them both with the glow of their new colours…

And then, much to Conner and Kira's astonishment, two forms, apparently created from the energy that had just 'dived' into them, appeared on either side of them.

On their left sides were, as a part of them had almost suspected, the forms of their new animals; a long, elegant puma with green fur looked up at Conner with a critical expression as though it was coming to a decision about him, and a large, majestic eagle covered in dark purple feathers settled beside Kira to look at her, after apparently looking at her shoulder and deciding she couldn't support it.

It was the creature that now stood on their _right_ sides that surprised the two temporally-relocated Rangers.

On their right, in red and yellow energy respectively, a tyrannosaurus rex- fortunately only around Conner's height; a life-size model would have been _ridiculously_ huge- and a pterodactyl sat, both figures looking at Conner and Kira with what could have been called a proud grin if dinosaur mouths had been designed for something like grinning without looking like they wanted to eat you.

"What the…?" Kira said, looking in confusion between the two animals sitting around her before looking up at Ninjor. "What's this all about?"

If his face had been visible, Ninjor would doubtless have been smiling.

"Why, your animal spirits have simply been briefly personified so that they can meet each other, Miss Ford," he explained, as the animals standing around Conner and Kira stepped forward to look at each other critically. "After all, you cannot expect the powers of the Ninja to just, as I believe the saying goes, 'jump into bed' with the Dino Thunder powers without being given a chance to decide that is what they want, can you?"

"Wha-?" Conner began, before, much to his and Kira's surprise, the two animals in front of them suddenly leapt and flew directly _into_ each other, meeting in front of the new Ninja Rangers in a bright but brief 'explosion'- although it seemed to be limited to creating a visual effect- of red, yellow, green and purple.

As Connor and Kira watched, two orbs of energy, each about the size of a basketball, appeared in front of them as the explosion died down, each one shimmering and glowing with the energy that had just combined to create them. For a moment, the balls just floated in front of them, and then, at a gradual pace, they moved towards the two Rangers, spreading over them until they were covered in a soft, golden glow…

And then, as though it had never been present in the first place, the glow faded, leaving Conner and Kira staring down at their bodies in surprise.

"O-kaaaaay… what was _that_ all about?" Conner asked, looking at Ninjor in confusion. "I mean… with the merging and the ball and… and…"

"The infusion of the new powers?" Ninjor asked, once again giving the impression of smiling reassuringly at the two Rangers despite lacking a visible mouth. "Simply put, it was the powers of your Dino Gems combining with the power of your new Power Coins, allowing you to access either of them whenever you wish."

The Ninja master chuckled slightly as he looked approvingly at the two new initiates to the power of the Ninja Rangers, as though at a private joke. "And, of course, allowing you to access _both_ of them when the need arises…"

" _Both_ of them?" Kira asked, turning to look at Ninjor in confusion just as he waved his hand in their direction, chuckling slightly as though at some private joke…

* * *

And then, much to their surprise, Conner and Kira were once more standing in the Command Centre, staring around at their surroundings in surprise as the other Rangers turned to look at them.

Despite his own confusion at what had just taken place, Conner was grateful to see that Tommy- it was becoming increasingly easy to think of him as _Tommy_ in this time, rather than as the more familiar name of _Doctor O._ \- was just as surprised by his new colour as he had been.

Which wasn't to say that Kira wasn't attracting her share of attention, of course; even Zordon and Alpha seemed to be more than slightly surprised at the sight of her in purple.

After a moment's pause, Conner finally decided that they evidently weren't going to find out what Ninjor had been about to say any time soon, and decided to turn to more important matters.

"So…" he said, looking around at the other Rangers with a slightly apologetic expression on his face, "sorry to just drop in like this, but Ninjor seemed to think we were finished; sent us back here after giving us the Ninja powers."

Shrugging in an attempt to be casual that didn't seem to have been that successful, he looked over inquiringly at Billy. "Anyway, enough about us; how's the Shogunzord thing coming along?"

"Oh… uh, rather well, actually," Billy said, shaking his head slightly as though forcing his mind back on track, as he turned back to a panel behind him for a moment, before he looked back at Conner and Kira. "Using Rocky and Aisha's power coins to provide a comparison between energy sources, I've managed to isolate key details about the nature of the power contained in both your gems and our coins that remain the same across both. With this, I think that I've managed to create a program that will allow the owners of the relevant Dino Gems in the future to control the Shogunzords; they might be a bit slow at first, but nothing too serious, I assure you."

Conner and Kira's jaws both dropped.

"You did something like _that_ this _quickly_?" Kira said, staring incredulously at Billy. "How the…?"

"Well, he already had to reprogram the Shogunzords to take orders from our power coins a while back, and he was operating on a time limit back then," Rocky pointed out, a slight smile on his face before he looked inquiringly at the two Rangers before them. "By the way, what's with the new colours? I mean, when we got our Ninja powers, we had the same colours as with our last set of powers; how come you guys are different?"

"Oh… Ninjor said it was something about our Dino Gems tapping into a _different_ level of the Morphing Grid than the Power Coins," Kira explained, one hand briefly stroking the material that comprised her costume before looking back at the other Rangers. "You know, we're red and yellow when it comes to the grid level that lets us access the Dino Gems, but for the power level that's accessed by the Power Coins, we're green and purple."

"Ah," Adam said, before looking up inquiringly at Zordon. "Does that difference apply in other cases as well? You know, different power sources means different colours for even Rangers with pre-existing powers?"

"INDEED, ADAM," Zordon said, nodding in conformation at the Black Ranger's assessment. "THE SAME HOLDS TRUE FOR ALL OF YOU; IF, FOR REASONS UNKNOWN, YOU SHOULD BE FORCED TO CHANGE POWER SOURCES IN THE FUTURE, IT IS LIKELY THAT YOUR COLOURS SHALL BE DIFFERENT FROM WHAT THEY ARE AT PRESENT."

Exchanging a brief glance, Conner and Kira shared a brief smile, but were nevertheless able to keep quiet about their own personal knowledge of the nature of changing power sources.

 _Given that Doctor O. changed from white to_ red _when he went Zeo- and Adam and Rocky went green and blue at the same time- I suppose we should have almost_ expected _to have changed a bit ourselves…_ Conner reflected, as he looked back at Billy once again.

"Anyway, enough about the colour thing; any ideas how long it'll take for that program to finish running?" he asked the Blue Ranger. "I mean, it's been great working with you guys and all, but Kira and I would _really_ like to-"

However, before Conner could finish his sentence, a loud siren sound suddenly came from a nearby computer console, prompting all eight Rangers to lose their formerly relaxed attitude and look anxiously over at Zordon and Alpha.

"What's that?" Kira said, looking inquiringly at the little robot who had become a little brother to the first Rangers.

"Ay yi yi yi yi!" Alpha said, as he looked in fear at the Rangers. "Zedd must have sent down another monster!"

"This soon after the last one?" Aisha said, looking up in confusion at Zordon. "Doesn't it normally take Zedd longer than this to prepare a new monster?"

"INDEED, AISHA; I AM SURPRISED BY THIS TURN OF EVENTS AS YOU ARE," Zordon said, concern evident on his face. "I BELIEVE I HAVE DETECTED THE MONSTER THAT ZEDD HAS DISPATCHED; OBSERVE THE VIEWING GLOBE."

As soon as the Rangers had turned to look at the large white ball at the opposite end of the Command Centre, Conner and Kira's eyes widened in horror at the sight of the monster that was currently tearing a path through downtown Angel Grove.

"ZELTRAX?" they both yelled in horror, before turning to look at each other as realisation dawned.

"He got dragged back as _well_?" Kira said, indicating the figure on the viewing globe in horror as she stared at the new Green Ninja Ranger. "But… but how could he stayed quiet _this_ long?"

"Uh… sorry to interrupt, but can we assume that this guy's another foe from your time?" Tommy put in, looking inquiringly at the two Rangers. "And if so, who is he?"

"Oh… right," Conner said, looking apologetically at the other Rangers. "His name's Zeltrax; he's… well, I suppose you could call him our Goldar, for lack of a better term. Guy used to be human, but he was severely injured in an accident and our main bad guy transferred his brain into a robot body; we've never been clear on _why_ , but he blames our mentor for causing the accident that led to him getting stuck like that in the first place."

"Wait; you mean that thing's _human_?" Kat asked, staring incredulously at the viewing globe as Zeltrax blasted a car or two out of his path, for no apparent reason other than that he felt like it.

"Only in the loosest sense," Kira put in; she still seemed slightly shaken by Zeltrax's presence, but she was evidently prepared to put her fear aside for the moment. "We've never really thought of him as being _human_ any more, to be honest; there's been too many occasions when he's been a large-scale threat, and the choice was… well, it was either him or all of us."

"Ah," Tommy said, simply nodding in understanding. "I… see."

Conner could tell that Tommy didn't fully appreciate their perspective on the situation- like Doctor O., even if he didn't know who Zeltrax _was_ , a part of Tommy must still think they could appeal to Zeltrax's humanity to make him stop- but, for the moment, he at least accepted that Zeltrax was dangerous.

Right now, that was all they needed.

"Anyway, shall we get moving?" Kira asked, looking at the other Rangers and shrugging inquiringly. "If nothing else, I wouldn't mind the chance to test out these new powers."

Tommy nodded in agreement.

"All right," he said, before looking critically at Conner and Kira. "Just one thing needs to be clear; unless it becomes clear there's no other way, we are _not_ going to kill him, OK?"

Conner just nodded in agreement, he didn't feel like going into too much more detail in his response right now.

"Right then, guys," Tommy said, as he glanced around at the seven other Rangers, sparing a moment to look at Conner and Kira before nodding in resolution. "It's Morphin' Time!"

Instantly, the eight Rangers held their morphers out in front of them, Conner and Kira operating on an instinct that surprised even them as they stared at the morphers and spoke the words that would cause them to transform into their new costumes.

"Purple Ranger Power!"

"Green Ranger Power!"

"White Ranger Power!"

"Black Ranger Power!"

"Pink Ranger Power!"

"Blue Ranger Power!"

"Yellow Ranger Power!"

"Red Ranger Power!"

As soon as Rocky's voice had spoken, the glow of teleportation surrounded the Rangers and all eight of them vanished, heading to downtown Angel Grove for the upcoming battle.


	14. Serpentera Rises

As they materialised in the high street of Angel Grove, Conner and Kira finally had the chance to study their new Ranger outfits, and, needless to say, they were _very_ impressed.

Conner, the majority of the other Rangers noted (Kat being the sole exception; even Rocky, Aisha and Adam had seen the Green Ranger in action when Rita had created a clone of Tommy), was wearing an identical version of Tommy's original Green Ranger costume, complete with the Dragon Shield. Those on the right to see it could even make out the Dragon Dagger hanging by his hip, although that could have just been a copy rather than the _actual_ Dagger; only when it was actually _used_ would they know whether it could do everything the original had or not.

Kira's outfit was, at first glance, simply the Pink Ranger costume in a purple colour; even the helmet had a similar design about it. However, closer inspection revealed a key difference; for this helmet, while the Eagle's head still stretched between the middle of the visor, rather than its wings stretch round to the back of the head, for Kira's helmet, they came forward, surrounding the visor and approximately the front half of the head, leaving the back half of the helmet white apart from what seemed to be the eagle's tail-feathers.

However, none of the Rangers had the time to admire their new member's costumes; the issue of Zeltrax standing before them took priority over everything else. Even as they landed, Zeltrax was turning to look at the new arrivals, his eyes instantly falling on the White Ranger, prompting a slight chuckle from him.

"Well well…" he said, sounding like he would be grinning if he possessed the face for it as he stared at the White Ranger, flexing his fingers on his weapon as he raised it. "The one I've been waiting for has arrived at last…"

"What are _we_ , chopped liver?" Conner asked, as he and Kira stepped forward hastily, blocking Tommy from the cyborg's view; the less chances Zeltrax had to fight Tommy right now, the better, as far as they were concerned. "You know, given that we're all only _here_ because of you attacking us, I figure we're entitled to at least a _bit_ of payback, right?"

For a moment, Zeltrax could only stare at the Green Ranger before him in confusion- evidently, he was wondering how there could be a Green Ranger in _his_ present and a Green Ranger in _this_ one, given that the White Ranger was active in this time as well and there'd never been any records of Green and White interacting at this time- but then he seemed to process the voice that had spoken and he nodded slightly in understanding.

"Ah, Conner McKnight, I presume?" he said, before looking over at the Purple Ranger standing beside the Green Ranger, tutting slightly as he did so. "And you'd be Kira Ford, mmm? So, you _did_ acquire that little 'upgrade' from Ninjor; I have to admit, knowing you as well as I do, I had my doubts you would prove worthy-"

"What; because I wanted to quit the Ranger gig after my first couple of missions?" Conner retorted, glaring angrily at Zeltrax underneath his helmet. "A lot can change in a few months, Zeltrax; it's just too bad that _you're_ not one of the things that can."

"On the contrary, McKnight," Zeltrax said, chuckling to himself as he stared at the Rangers before him, his fingers flexing on his weapon as he stared at his new adversaries. "Once I am done here, I shall have changed a _great_ deal…"

Glancing over at each other, although they couldn't see each other's faces, Conner and Kira knew the same thought was going through their minds right now.

 _Oh crap_.

When they'd gone into this fight, they'd been hoping that Zeltrax wouldn't know that the Tommy Oliver he knew in the future was the White Ranger of the present, and that they'd manage to minimise the amount of information they'd need to give the present team about their foe; Tommy would doubtless have wanted to know _why_ a demented cyborg from the future had a mad-on for him in the present.

Unfortunately, it was clear that Zeltrax was well aware of Tommy's identity as the White Ranger; whether because he'd somehow found it out in the future, or because someone had told him it after the four of them arrived in the present, neither of them knew….

And, when you got down to it, it wasn't important; all that mattered was that he seemed to know who was under the White Ranger's helmet, and, given the intensity of the gaze he was directing in Tommy's direction, his intentions were _far_ from being good ones.

Neither of them had any idea what would happen if Doctor O. was killed at this time of his life, but they knew for sure that the resulting changes to history could be nothing but _seriously_ bad news for everyone on the side of good.

They had to stop Zeltrax _now_.

And this time, it _had_ to be for _good_.

With that in mind, Conner and Kira made up their minds about their next action; it wasn't much of a choice, really.

Before Zeltrax could attack himself, the new Green and Purple Rangers had leapt towards the cyborg, their new 'Blade Blasters' drawn and in 'dagger' mode, and lashed out at their foe with two powerful slashes, sending Zeltrax staggering back in surprise.

"Leave. Them. _Alone_ ," Kira said, her voice as cold as ice as she stared at Zeltrax under her helmet. "This is between _us_ ; you don't need to involve _them_."

Zeltrax just chuckled.

"On the contrary, Miss Ford," he said, as he stared back at Earth's first Purple Ranger. "As you are about to find out, I have _already_ involved _them_ in ways you cannot imagine."

Before either of the Dino Thunder Rangers could reply, Zeltrax had brought up his 'axe'- or whatever he called his weapon; Conner and Kira were never entirely sure _what_ it was-, forced them off to one side with one powerful blow, and then leapt onto the other Rangers, his gaze fixed on the White Ranger as his future foe brought Saba up to defend himself.

Instinctively, the other Rangers shifted into a combat stance, but before they could even _try_ to strike their own blows, Zeltrax brought his weapon crashing down on the White Ranger's sword, sending up sparks that sent the White Ranger staggering back in shock.

* * *

"Whoa!" Tommy yelled, as he felt himself actually stagger slightly from the blow the 'cyborg' had just struck him with. In all his time as a Ranger, he'd _never_ been hit that hard; not even _Goldar_ had ever exerted that much raw strength against him…

"You think _that_ was bad, Oliver?" 'Zeltrax' said, glaring at him through a face that made Tommy think of a bad metalwork project of some kind. "Trust me; you haven't even _begun_ to feel pain!"

Before Tommy could stop to cope with the fact that this guy appeared to know who he was, Zeltrax had struck at him again, the axe hurtling towards him…

Only for a pair of red and black legs to suddenly leap over Tommy and strike Zeltrax in the chest, sending the demented cyborg staggering back as Adam and Rocky landed on either side of their friend, followed closely by the other five Rangers.

"How do you like _that_?" Rocky asked, glaring at Zeltrax as their foe regained his balance. "You may be able to last against _five_ Rangers where you come from, but how do you think you'll manage when it comes to dealing with _eight_ of us?"

Roaring in rage, Zeltrax raised his weapon once more and charged at the Rangers, each one of whom instantly leapt into action. As he lashed out at Kira and Kat, the Pink and Purple Rangers leapt over the weapon before lashing out at Zeltrax's back with two powerful kicks that sent the cyborg staggering forward, his weapon briefly lost from the shock, just in time to meet Billy and Aisha's fists in his face.

Reeling back from the dual punch, Zeltrax barely had any time to get his bearings before he was struck from both sides simultaneously, once again being hit by the Red and Black Rangers with such force that he was sent staggering back even further as the two of them took up combat positions in front of him.

Roaring in rage and frustration- this fight was _not_ going quite as he'd planned; he'd been hoping to do more damage at this stage of the fight- Zeltrax lashed out with a desperate punch that sent the Black Ranger flying, taking advantage of the momentary lull in the attack from that side to dive out of Rocky's path and roll back towards where he'd dropped his axe when Kira and Kat had struck him. Grabbing the weapon, he spun around to fight once again…

Only to be met by two blades- one short and predominately green in colour, the other one long and predominately white- landing on the axe, the Green and White Rangers staring fixedly at the creature before them, Saba and the Dragon Dagger clutched in their hands as they fought back against their nemesis.

* * *

"Will you just _stop_ this?" Tommy asked, looking at the creature before him, trying to remind himself that, no matter what it looked like now, it had been human once; there _must_ be some way of reaching that humanity to make it see sense. "We don't want to have to kill you!"

"Too late for that, Oliver!" Zeltrax yelled at Tommy, once again leaving Tommy shaken and confused; how could this… man… know who he was under the helmet? "You should have- UGH!" he grunted, as Conner suddenly kicked out at zeltrax's chest underneath the 'axe'.

The blow didn't really do much damage to Zeltrax- Conner wasn't in a good position to gather the power to attack Zeltrax, even if it would have done much good to _kick_ at sold metal- but it sent the cyborg staggering enough so that Tommy could quickly use Saba to knock the axe out of his hands, where it subsequently spun through the air before being grabbed by Aisha.

Studying the weapon she now held in her hands, the Yellow Ranger smiled as she glanced over at Zeltrax.

"Not bad," she said, as though she'd been given his weapon to assess it instead of having it kicked over to her. "Bit long for my liking, but to each their own, I guess."

"GIVE THAT _BACK_!" Zeltrax roared, lunging in Aisha's direction, only to be intercepted by a sudden kick from Conner, accompanied by a rapid slash from Conner's new weapon that sent the cyborg flying back once again, roaring in rage as his hide sparked from the recent attack.

"How do you like _that_?!" Conner said, a broad grin on his face under his helmet as he glared at Zeltrax. "Face facts, Zeltrax; you can't _win_ this! You're not up against just _any_ Rangers here; you're up against the ones who wrote the _book_ on being Rangers! They've fought things Mes… uh… your boss… can only _dream_ about being able to control! There's no _way_ you can stop them!"

A noise off to his side prompted Conner to glance around, and he saw that the other Rangers had gathered around him as well, each of them glaring in Zeltrax's direction, their bodies radiating confidence in their skills.

"Conner does have a point, Zeltrax," Billy stated, his gaze fixed on the twisted mockery that had once been a human being before them. "After all the aliens and spells we've overcome in the past, what makes you think you'll have _any_ chance against us?"

Zeltrax just chuckled as he looked at the eight Rangers before him, as though he couldn't care less about the problem facing him at present.

"For one thing, I'm not doing this alone… whoever you are," he said, as he tossed his weapon off to the side and raised one arm, revealing a deep red wrist-band that Conner and Kira didn't recall seeing there before. "I have some help."

Before any of the Rangers could stop him, Zeltrax had raised his hand to the sky, and, as a beam of red energy shot into the air, he yelled out two words none of the Rangers had expected or wanted to hear.

"Serpentera… _activate_!"

As the Rangers watched in horror, the skies suddenly darkened, as though someone had just flicked some switch for massive storms, and the large, dragon-like form of Lord Zedd's personal zord descended from the sky, its red eyes flashing maliciously as it roared at the Rangers before it.

* * *

"Oh my God…" Rocky whispered, before he lowered his gaze to stare at Zeltrax. "How could you get _that_ thing working?"

Zeltrax shrugged dismissively.

"The copy of the White Dino Gem, of course," he said, as though it was so obvious he couldn't believe Rocky needed it explained to him. "It's not as good as the original would have been, of course, but it gets the job done; for the moment, at least, Serpentera is active."

Studying the Rangers before him, taking in their shocked expressions, Zeltrax chuckled once again; if his face had possessed the capacity for it, he would doubtless have been smiling broadly.

"And you don't have a _single_ zord that can stop it," he said simply, before he tapped another control on the red 'wristband', turned into dark blue energy and zapped towards Serpentera, leaving the Rangers staring up at the zord before them in horror.

"Oh no…" Conner muttered to himself, as he stared at the nightmarish zord as it flew down towards them. " _This_ isn't good…"

"Tell me about it; like _not_ making major changes to history wasn't hard enough to do _already_ …" Kira replied, taking care to keep her voice low as they stared at the sight before them.

"What?" Adam said, looking over at the two new Rangers in confusion.

"Oh… just… well, Serpentera's still got a part to play in our future, so you… kind of… _can't_ just destroy it at the moment," Kira said, looking apologetically over at the other Rangers. Noting the suddenly anxious edge to their body language, Kira raised her hands reassuringly. "Don't worry; it won't do anything _major_ to you guys- or anyone else, for that matter- when it comes back; it's just… well, its defeat _was_ a prominent moment in Ranger history, so I just _don't_ think it should be erased so easily."

"OK; we'll bear that in mind," Tommy said, nodding in understanding as he glanced briefly back at Serpentera before looking at the others. "Sounds like our main objective right now is to damage Serpentera just enough so that it can't keep going for the _moment_ , but _not_ so badly that it shuts down on us for good; one of us should probably try and get into the cockpit to destroy that 'Dino Gem' thing so it can't be used as a power source any more."

Glancing back at Serpentera once again, he swallowed slightly anxiously and then glanced back at the Blue Ranger. "Billy, can the Ninja and Shogun Zords be operated with only half of us in each other of them? You know, three in one, three in the other?"

Billy nodded thoughtfully.

"I… _think_ so…" he said, as he studied the Rangers around him, before his eyes settled on Conner and Kira. "You two had-"

Kira shook her head.

"No need; Ninjor gave us a couple of zords as well," she said, smiling slightly at Conner before she looked back at the other Rangers. "He didn't actually _say_ they could form a Megazord on their own, but it's worth a shot, right? They looked like they were the right size for it anyway; if nothing else, they'll be able to do _some_ damage."

"Right now, _any_ help we can get would be good!" Tommy said, taking one last look at Serpentera before he looked back at the other Rangers and nodded resolutely. "OK guys, let's do it!"

"Right!" the Rangers said, as all eight of them raised their hands to the sky- Conner and Kira included, and cried out the words that would summon the aid they now needed more than ever before.

" _We need Ninjazord power,_ now!"

As soon as the words were out of their mouths, loud roars and screeches were heard from the distance, and then, from over the horizon came the eight Ninjazords, the Green Puma and Purple Eagle running and flying alongside the other zords as though they had always been there.

"Nice zords," Kat said, glancing over at Kira approvingly.

"Thanks," Kira said, as she glanced over at Conner and indicated the zords in question. "Shall we?"

"Let's do it," Conner said, nodding in agreement. Crouching down slightly, the two Rangers then leapt up into the air, teleporting into their zord cockpits mid-jump, and found themselves both sitting insmall cockpits that seemed to be located in the zord's heads. Kira noted, with some part of her mind, that the Eagle, unlike the pterodactyl, had actual _controls_ rather than the 'thought command' system she'd grown used to, but, somehow, she instinctively already knew which buttons to press to make it do what she wanted…

" _Hey, Kira_!" Conner's voice called over the speakers. Glancing down, Kira saw the Green Puma running on the ground alongside her; the other Ninjazords had apparently fallen back, although Kira was pretty sure this was only because they were combining at the present. " _Care to hook up_?"

"Thought you'd never ask," Kira chuckled, as she reached over to activate the necessary controls.

As she watched, a screen flashed up a picture of the process going on for the two zords at present, as an 'automatic pilot' kind of system activated, taking control of the 'combination sequence'. As she watched the image on the screen, her zord's head folded down into its chest- revealing a head in a manner that reminded her of archive footage of Zeo Zord V- as its legs folded upwards, the wings remaining spread out at the back as it flew through the air. Meanwhile, the Green Puma had leapt up onto its hind legs and its head and front legs had 'folded' forward, the front legs opening up to reveal a space that would allow the Eagle to settle on the Puma, acting as a head and back as well as providing wings.

Actually, from what Kira could see of the diagram as she flew towards the Puma, it looked like the wings could not only serve as wings, but also fold over the chest to act as a kind of 'armour' and detach from the main zord to act as weapons…

Then, just as that thought crossed Kira's mind, her chair suddenly moved back, and, suddenly she found herself sitting in a control room in what seemed to be the head of the Puma- now serving as the zord's chest- with Conner sitting beside her.

Glancing in her direction, the new Green Ninja Ranger, despite the lack of mobile features on his helmet, seemed to almost smile.

"Ah, Miss Ford; welcome to the Ninja Warriorzord," he said, indicating the control room around them, as though he was just a salesman showing her a new car. "Ninjor included the name in my… uh, 'piloting lessons', I guess you could call it."

"Not bad," Kira said, looking at the cockpit before glancing back at Conner. "Anyway, shall we get on with putting Zeltrax down for _good_?"

"My pleasure," Conner said. His body demonstrating his anticipation, he tapped the required controls to turn the Warriorzord around, and soon, the two Rangers found themselves watching as Serpentera casually battered back the Ninja and Shogun Megazords. The two zords were large, of course- Conner had seem several _buildings_ that were dwarfed by the zords of any era- but Serpentera was significantly greater, stretching up so high that its head almost seemed to be touching the clouds…

It was like the Empire State Building to the conventional skyscrapers of the other two zords.

"Hey…" Kira said, staring at the sight in confusion. "Where's the Falconzord?"

Glancing up, Conner smiled as he saw the white bird-like form of his future mentor's zord circling the skies above the other three zords, occasionally firing some kind of weapon in its wings at Serpentera when it could get a shot in.

"Doing what he does best," Conner said, before his eyes narrowed as he stared at the monster before them. "Now it's time for _us_ to do the same thing."

Taking the controls, Conner and Kira sent their new zord charging forward, slamming into Serpenetera's leg and punching the thing for all they were worth. The attack didn't seem to have any significant impact, but the massive zord seemed to stagger slightly, and, right now, that was all Conner and Kira were after.

" _Nice zord you've got there, guys_ ," Rocky's voice said over the comlink; it was hard to be certain, but, assuming the comlinks were advanced enough to give a sense of direction- and it wasn't just a case of the speakers on one side being damaged already- it sounded like the Red Ranger was fighting in the Shogun Megazord- currently punching at the leg like they were- although who else was with him was unknown.

" _Indeed; it's definitely impressive_ ," Billy put in from what seemed like the other side; sticking with their original theory about how the comlinks worked, it sounded like he was in the Ninja Megazord,, which was currently 'stabbing' at the leg with the left, Wolf Ninjazord arm. " _The colour scheme is a bit tricky to pull off in most cases, but Ninjor seems to have done pretty well with what he used nevertheless_."

"Thanks; yours look good too," Conner said, smiling under his helmet before he turned back to look at the massive zord before him gritting his teeth resolutely as he watched their zord's best attacks not even leave a dent in Serpentera's legs. "Look, this isn't working out, and it is _way_ too dangerous to leave Zeltrax active with what he knows about the future; is there _any_ way we can get up to the cockpit and get Zeltrax- and maybe see about disconnecting that duplicate Dino Gem, come to that- out of this thing?"

" _Not_ definitely _; the cockpit's all the way up in the head, which is_ not _exactly an easy thing to reach_ ," Aisha said (She sounded like she was in the Ninja Megazord with Billy). " _Tommy_ might _be able to get you up there in the Falconzord- our teleportation system has a problem focusing on a destination unless you already have a clear idea of where you're going yourself- but I can't be sure that you'll be able to_ do _anything once you're there; there's no way of knowing if that 'Zeltrax' sucker has more backup or not_."

"Great…" Kira groaned, as she looked over at Conner. "And, no offence, but if push comes to shove, we _both_ know you can't handle Zeltrax on your own in a fight when you've got the territory advantage; you're _definitely_ going to have a problem when you're somewhere you don't know about, _especially_ when you factor in possible backup."

" _Exactly_ ," Tommy's voice said, breaking through the comlink. " _Which is why I'd be going in with you, Conner_."

Conner could barely even open his mouth to protest before Tommy continued. " _Don't try and talk me out of it, Conner; I'm a good fighter, I've probably handled anyone Zeltrax has in there as backup in the past, and I can set the Falconzord to operate on automatic pilot if I have to. It's risky, but it's not_ impossible _for us to win this_."

Conner swallowed slightly as he glanced back at Kira, almost seeking permission to go and deal with this; no matter how capable he knew she was, he hated the idea of leaving her alone, when they still hadn't had time to fully explore this new… relationship… between the two of them…

Kira nodded at him.

"Do it, Conner," she said, her voice grim as she looked at her boyfriend. "I'll keep things together down here until you get back."

Conner didn't bother to make any kind of protest; they both knew he wouldn't have meant it anyway. Nodding resolutely, he stood up and reached over to activate the comlink.

"OK, Tommy; let's do this," he said resolutely. "Beam me…"

* * *

"…up Scotty," he finished, as he suddenly found himself standing in what he presumed was the cockpit of the Falconzord, looking in surprise at the form of the White Ranger in front of him.

"Hi there," Tommy said, looking back at him briefly before turning back to the window in front of him- it seemed to be showing what Connor assumed were Serpentera's arms- before he pulled on some levers and sent the zord tearing up into the sky, at such a rapid speed Conner was surprised he didn't fall down (Some feature of the zord must have been able to compensate for changes in speed, even if it couldn't stop the machines from jolting when they were attacked).

Regardless of the _how_ of it, in a matter of moments, the zord was circling Serpentera's head, staying just far enough away that the zord couldn't reach them; no matter how powerful it was, either Serpentera had limited long-range weapons or the pilots didn't want to risk using them and drain the Dino Gem's power too rapidly.

 _Besides, why worry about it?_ Conner mused to himself, as Tommy tapped a few buttons on the console in front of him and stood up. _After all, we're not doing much to the sucker so far; why would they need to worry about destroying us at long ranges? All they've got to do is wait for us to run out of power and they're set…_

He chuckled slightly at that thought.

They were _definitely_ going to be in for a surprise…

"Ready?" Tommy asked, looking over at the future Red Ranger.

"As I'll ever be," Conner said, nodding in confirmation at his future mentor. "Let's do this."

Placing a hand on Conner's shoulder, Tommy tapped another button on the wall of the zord's cockpit…


	15. Showdown in Serpentera

"Take _that_ , Power _LESS_ Rangers!" Zeltrax chuckled, as Serpentera took another step forward, prompting tremors that sent the three megazords around them staggering back. "Thought you could defeat _me_ , did you? HA!"

"It is hardly a wise decision to simply _taunt_ your enemies, Zeltrax!" the deep-throated voice of Goldar said from behind the cyborg; zeltrax had managed to win the honour of taking Serpentera's controls for the current fight, but Goldar had insisted on coming along to make sure that the zord was not destroyed due to the cyborg's inexperience with the systems. "You must _destroy_ them as fast as possible; I have _never_ wasted my time and efforts in pointless insults!"

"That may work for you, Goldar, but it's not enough for _me_!" Zeltrax said, turning back to glare at the gold-armoured winged monkey angrily. "Oliver's future self condemned me to live in this form; I want him to know the long, _drawn-out_ agony of defeat, and it will _still_ never be enough to equal what I have been forced to go through at his hands!"

Turning back to the control panel before him, Zeltrax chuckled slightly as he took another step forward, sending the new 'Ninja Warriorzord' that appeared to belong to Ford and McKnight staggering back from the vibrations as the foot made contact.

"So long, you pathetic _idiots_ ," Zeltrax chuckled, as he turned his attention toward the Shogun Megazord, determined to stamp that pile of junk out of existence…

"You know, Zeltrax, you _really_ weren't paying attention to what I told you earlier," a voice suddenly said from behind him. "You _can't_ defeat these guys, no matter _how_ much you try, and especially _not_ with this kind of help!"

Zeltrax's eyes widened in shock (Or at least they would have if he had eyes that were _capable_ of widening in shock).

Of all the voices he'd expected to hear _inside_ Serpentera's cockpit, he hadn't been expecting to hear _this_ voice this clearly…

" _McKnight_?!" he yelled in surprise, spinning around in his chair just in time to see the new Green Ninja Ranger lash out with a powerful punch that caught him in the middle of the face, sending him staggering back out of the chair.

"Oh yeah," McKnight chuckled, as he pulled a dagger out of his belt, shifting into a combat stance as he faced Zeltrax, jerking his head in the direction of Oliver's past self. "Plus, I brought a friend."

Glancing over in the direction of Goldar, Zeltrax cursed as he saw the creature that was _meant_ to be the 'expert' at fighting the Rangers had suddenly found himself face-to-face with the White Ranger, the sword of the man who would ruin Zeltrax's life slashing away at the gold armour that covered the creature.

"Hey there," Oliver's hated voice said as he glanced over at Zeltrax during a brief lull in the fighting as Goldar was sent staggering back, a casual tone in his voice that Zeltrax had noted as absent from their last few fights in the future. "Thought we might as well just… drop in and pick up some things."

" _YOU_?!" Zeltrax roared, as he started to lunge towards Oliver, weapon raised as he prepared to try and hack Tommy's head off, ending his nightmare before it could even begin by eliminating the man who'd caused him to be trapped in this body…

Only for McKnight's green-clad arm to grab the weapon and yank it back towards him, accompanying it with a rapid punch to Zeltrax's face that left the cyborg staggering back in a momentary daze.

"Sorry, Zeltrax, but it's _not_ going to be that easy!" he said, glaring at his foe under his helmet. "You want to kill Tommy Oliver, you're going to have to go through _me_ first, and that is _not_ going to happen!"

Before Zeltrax could say anything else to that, McKnight had grabbed the dagger that hung on his belt and desperately slashed at the cyborg's face with it, resulting in a scar in Zeltrax's armour, right across where his nose would have been if he was still human.

* * *

"How do you like _that_?" Conner asked, grinning proudly at his handiwork as he stared at the cyborg who'd tormented him so much in the future. "You want a fight, Zeltrax? You fight _me_!"

Roaring in rage at the Red Dino Thunder Ranger's continued defiance, Zeltrax charged wildly at his opponent, Conner only just managing to bring up his dagger to parry the blow before it struck home. Desperately lashing out with a kick, he sent Zeltrax staggering back once more, following it up with a quick lunge with the dagger that managed to cut off one of Zeltrax's 'shoulder-pads'.  
  
Roaring in rage, Zeltrax attempted to strike back at his adversary with a slash from his own claws, striking the armour that now surrounded Conner's shoulders. The strike sent Conner staggering back slightly, but he managed to recover in time to strike back at his foe, once again sending Zeltrax staggering back slightly. Instantly, the two of them had lunged for each other once more, neglecting their earlier clash of weapons and limiting themselves once more to hand-to-hand combat.  
  
 _Here goes nothing_ … Conner thought grimly to himself, as he parried Zeltrax's attacks as best as he could, using his own limited unarmed combat skills.  
  
All he could do right now was hope that he could keep this guy occupied long enough for Doct- _Tommy_ , he reminded himself; if he started calling his mentor's past self 'Doctor O.' in his head, there was a good chance he'd slip up and reveal that he knew the guy in the future- to deal with that Dino Gem replica that was powering this stupid zord in the first place…

* * *

As the new Green Ranger clashed with the foe of the future, Tommy turned his attention back to his long-time nemesis, a grim expression on his face under his helmet as he stared critically at Goldar.

"Tell me, did you actually think that _this_ guy would be able to help you defeat us?" he asked, looking critically over at where Zeltrax was presently fighting with Conner McKnight (Even in the current situation, Tommy noted with pride that the future Red Ranger was holding his own in the fight rather well; whoever had given them their powers had made sure the Ranger knew what he was doing). "He doesn't seem that powerful to _me_ ; I mean, Conner's still pretty new to those powers of his, and he's _easily_ keeping that sucker back."  
  
"He serves no purpose other than to keep those foolish future Rangers distracted!" Goldar yelled, as he pulled out his own sword to face the White Ranger. "With them occupied, you and your fellow _idiots_ will be _easy_ prey for the new Serpentera!"  
  
"Not a _chance_!" Tommy yelled, slashing at Goldar with his sword, sending the gold-armoured titan staggering back a few inches. Roaring in rage, Coldar brought his sword forward once again, the two combatants swiftly finding thing themselves exchanging sword blows as they desperately sought to gain the advantage in a rapidly-escalating struggle.  
  
" _Hah_!" Goldar yelled, chuckling as he ducked and weaved, parrying Tommy's blows with an ease that could only come from years of practice with each other's fighting skills. "You really think _this_ will be enough to defeat me, White Ranger? You should know me better than _that_ after all this time!"  
  
"Yeah," Tommy retorted, glaring angrily at his foe under his helmet, "but unlike you, even after your occasional 'team-ups' with Rito, I'm still _never_ foolish enough to go into a dangerous situation on my _own_!"  
  
Before Goldar could reply, Tommy had ducked under another blow from the golden warrior's sword and lashed out at Goldar's chin with a desperate kick, sending his foe staggering back once more as he prepared for another assault.  
  
"I _know_ that my friends are out there fighting, Goldar," Earth's first Green Ranger said, glaring angrily at Goldar as he continued to exchange sword blows with his foe. "I _know_ that they'll do whatever they can to help me win this fight and stop Serpentera… but _you_?"  
  
Despite it not being the kind of thing he'd normally do in a fight situation, Tommy let out a brief, casual laugh at his opponent. "You' don't have _anybody_ available to help you right now."  
  
Still… as Tommy continued to duck around Goldar's continuing attempts to hack his head off with that sword of his, his blows becoming increasingly difficult to dodge in the confined space of Serpentera's cabin…  
  
He could only hope that, back on the ground, in their three various Megazords, his fellow Rangers were doing as well as he'd claimed they were doing; for all his professed faith in them, they _were_ facing incredible odds right now…

* * *

Outside Serpentera, the assorted zords continued to struggle against Zedd's uber-zord, all three of them trying to stay on the move and out of Serpentera's path of destruction while delivering their own blows. After Tommy and Conner had teleported out of the Falconzord, it had flown down to combine with the Shogun Megazord while operating on autopilot; the other Rangers had concluded that it would be more sensible to provide themselves with extra firepower than to give themselves a flying zord right now.

So far, however, the battle hadn't really changed much since their two allies had tried to dive into the massive zord that was currently confronting them. The three zords were currently trying to alternate their attacks between each of Serpentera's massive legs, but so far it wasn't resulting in much progress; it took all of them just to make Zedd's ridiculously large fighting machine _stagger_ at least.  
  
" _Kira, you OK over there_?" Kat called over to the Ninja Warriorzord from the Shogun Megazord; the two zords were desperately hacking at the leg with their swords, accompanied by the punches of the Ninja Megazord, but they couldn't so much as _scratch_ the armour.  
  
"Yeah, I'm coping so far, thanks," the new Purple Ranger said, as she anxiously studied the controls before her; this new zord was good, but it really wasn't as responsive to her commands as the Dino Thunderzords had been back in the… future (And she knew that the sentence didn't make any sense on most of the logical levels of conversation, but it was the only phrase she could think of right now).  
  
" _Yeah; 'coping' is definitely the correct term for this fight_ ," Aisha commented from the Ninja Megazord. " _We've been doing this for_ ages _, and so far we haven't even made a_ dent _in this sucker's armour; I don't think we can keep this up much longer_!"  
  
" _We have to hold on_!" Rocky yelled from the Shogun Megazord; Kira wasn't exactly encouraged to note that he sounded just as desperate as she was, despite him having actually _fought_ this thing before on his _own_. " _Tommy and Conner are up there; we need to buy them time to get Serpentera powered down_!"  
  
"Couldn't we call on that… turtle thing you guys used back in the Thunderzord days?" Kira yelled over the speakers, even as she sent her zord leaping briefly into the air in an attempt to escape the next mini-earthquake caused by Serpentera's continued footsteps forward. "I mean, if I remember my Ranger history, Serpentera actually _stepped_ on that thing and nothing actually happened!"  
  
" _Nice idea, Kira_ ," Rocky said through the radio, sounding" _Unfortunately, it doesn't work; Tor was tied into the other Thunderzords. With them gone, Tor pretty much… well, shut down, to be perfectly honest. He's still intact, but he's pretty much useless to us now_."  
  
" _Great_ …" Kira muttered, thumping her hand against the control panel before her in frustration. "So much for _that_ idea…"  
  
" _Wait a minute_ …" Billy muttered, sounding almost like he was thinking out loud for a moment before he spoke again. " _Kira, I_ think _you may have something promising there_ …"  
  
" _What_?" Adam asked, from his current location in the Shogun Megazord. " _What's the plan_?"  
  
" _Well, with Tommy and Conner already up there- and given that it seems a safe bet that they've definitely run into some opponents, otherwise they'd have shut Serpentera down already- we don't need to actually worry about_ damaging _Serpentera; we just need to knock it off-balance long enough for Tommy and Conner to get the upper hand_!" Billy explained, sounding more enthusiastic as he continued. " _We may not have access to Tor any more, but we_ do _still have access to far more zords than we_ ever _did back when Serpentera was first activated; maybe we can use those to grab onto Serpentera's feet and knock him off-balance_?"  
  
"Wait a minute; are you suggesting we try to _trip_ this sucker?" Kira asked incredulously, staring at the zord's radio incredulously. "Billy, are you _nuts_? What if it crushes somebody? No matter how far we are from Angel Grove, something _that_ size falling over would _definitely_ cause _some_ damage!"  
  
" _We don't have to make it_ fall _, Kira; we just need to get it off-balance long enough for Conner and Tommy to get the upper hand_ ," Billy continued. " _If they_ are _fighting somebody up there, all we need to do is knock Serpentera off-balance for a few moments; their opponents would only be focused on fighting Tommy and Conner, while they'd be more concerned about shutting Serpentera down. If we can just cause enough of a disturbance, it_ might _be all we need to gain the advantage_."  
  
Kira paused for a moment to reflect on the plan, before nodding slowly.  
  
"It makes… sense," she said, slightly uncertainly as she looked at the small 'radio' once again. "Sorry I didn't think of that earlier."  
  
" _Fair enough; the Tor thing was a valid question, and iit's not like you've got much experience with something like Serpentera_ ," Billy said casually, before his voice became serious once more. " _OK, guys; let's_ do _this! Grab onto the foot as soon as you can and hold on_ tight!"  
  
"Gotcha!" Kira yelled, as she quickly turned back to the controls in front of her and began to check over the controls; glancing over, she noticed that the other two Megazords were also moving into a position where they could attempt their new strategy.  
  
 _Here goes nothing_ … Kira mused to herself. As she watched the sight before her, Serpentera began to lift its foot, preparing to make its next, literally earth-shaking step…  
  
The foot was in the air…  
  
It was approaching the ground…  
  
" _NOW_!" Billy yelled.  
  
Instantly, with Serpentera's foot only a few metres from the ground, all three Megazords lunged forward, grabbing the foot at various points and desperately straining against the incredible weight of the massive zord. For a moment, Kira was afraid that the zord would be so powerful that it would practically tear the arms of the zords before their strategy could pay off…  
  
Then, with a massive burst of energy that Kira was sure surprised even the _other_ Rangers, the three Megazords thrust their arms upwards, sending the foot in question flying up at the same time. With that thrust, the massive dragon-like zord was sent staggering backwards, briefly appearing to literally _hop_ for a moment…

* * *

Up in the cockpit of Serpentera, none of the combatants were entirely sure what had just taken place. One minute, Serpentera had just been walking along, leaving the two Rangers to clash with their two respective adversaries, and the next, the entire cockpit had suddenly tipped up, leaving all four combatants staggering as the floor briefly seemed like it was about to become the wall…

As soon as his initial shock at what had just taken place was over, Conner seized his chance. With Zeltrax still momentarily off-balance, and Doc- _Tommy_ \- and Goldar out of range, he had a clear shot at the 'pedestal' where the faux White Dino Gem was being held to provide power for Serpentera.  
  
Conner didn't hesitate; drawing the Dragon Dagger, he plunged it directly into the centre of the gem, shattering it in half as soon as the blade struck the gem. Instantly, there was a brief 'explosion' of white energy, and the entire zord was suddenly sent staggering once more.  
  
"What the…?" Zeltrax said, staring around himself in confusion for a moment before his eyes settled on the new Green Ranger as he stood by the pedestal where the Gem had been held mere moments ago. " _YOU_!"  
  
"Me," Conner growled as he pulled out his new Blade Blaster, shifting it into blade form in his left hand as he clasped the Dragon Dagger in his right one. "Now then, given that the Gem's power isn't keeping this thing going any more, care to give up? From what I've read, Serpentera _did_ have some serious power issues whenever it was used in the past; I somehow doubt that you'll be able to keep this thing going for much longer."  
  
"You think you can tell _us_ what to do?" Goldar yelled at Conner, causing the new Green Ranger to spun around to stare at the Ranger's original monster, remaining tensed and ready for combat as he did so.  
  
"Well," the Dino Thunder Red Ranger retorted, staring in a fixed manner at the gold-armoured monkey-like monster, "the way I see it, your options are either to stay here, fight us, and end up costing your boss his biggest weapon against the Rangers, _or_ you could just get out of here, keep the weapon intact, and _not_ end up getting in serious trouble from Zedd."  
  
He shrugged slightly. "It's your call, of course, but I know what I'd go for."  
  
For a moment, the monster of the past faced the Ranger from the future, both sides clearly prepared to attack the other at the first opportunity, weapons drawn and ready to strike…  
  
Then Goldar sighed and turned to glare at the White Ranger.  
  
"You win this round, Tommy!" he roared, glaring angrily at his long-time opponent's visored face. "But be assured, one day we shall meet in battle, and the odds will _not_ be as kind to you that day as they have been today!"  
  
Privately, Conner wondered if that was at all effective even when you _didn't_ know that Tommy Oliver would still be alive at least a decade in the future.  
  
Looking at the relatively relaxed form of the White Ranger standing opposite Goldar, he somehow doubted it; the man who would go on to give him his powers didn't seem all that concerned about Goldar's threats to kill him.  
  
"NO!" Zeltrax roared, glaring at Goldar from where he'd stumbled against one of Serpentera's walls. "You can't _do this_ to me! Not after- UGH!"  
  
Before Zeltrax could finish his sentence, and before either of the Rangers could do anything to stop him, Goldar had pulled out his sword and thrust it directly through the cyborg's chest.  
  
"You do _not_ tell _me_ what to _DO_!" Goldar roared ath the cyborg.  
  
For a moment, all was silent in Serpentera's cockpit, Zeltrax staring in shock at the weapon in his chest as Conner and Tommy froze, uncertain what they should do…  
  
Then Zeltrax collapsed, his chest sparking as the lights in his eyes went out, and Conner knew they had to move.

* * *

" _Run_!" he yelled, glancing over anxiously at the White Ranger as Goldar turned to face the other Ranger; he knew Doctor O. could probably defeat Goldar, but with the integrity of the timeline at stake, Conner didn't want to risk further damage to Serpentera by a prolonged fight up here unless it was absolutely necessary.

Fortunately, his future mentor didn't question Conner's abrupt command; as soon as the words were out of the new Green Ranger's mouth, the White Ranger had activated his teleported and had vanished from the cockpit.  
  
Normally, Conner would have been perfectly willing to follow him.  
  
Right now, however, he had something else he needed to do first. Taking Zeltrax's body away wasn't practical- it would take too long for him to get the sucker into a position where he could comfortably carry that thing down to the other Rangers, and he didn't really feel like lugging Zeltrax back to their time anyway.  
  
As far as he was concerned, there was only one thing left to do with that body now, and he was going to do it.  
  
Specifically, he was going to get rid of it.  
  
Shifting his Blade Blaster back into gun mode, Conner aimed at Zeltrax's body and quickly fired a series of short, rapid blasts at his team's old enemy. In seconds, the cyborg's body had been reduced to smoking piles of scrap, leaving little intact for Zedd or anybody to use; Conner had even taken care to shoot Zeltrax in the head in case they tried to acquire information about the future from his brain somehow. Even if Zedd and Rite _did_ manage to salvage something worthwhile from Zeltrax's body, Conner doubted that they'd manage to use it before the Machine Empire showed up and kicked them out of Earth's solar system for good.  
  
He felt no regret about what he'd done to the body of the thing that had once been Terrance Smith. Zeltrax may have been a human once, but, as far as Conner was concerned, the cyborg hadn't been human for a long time.  
  
The man he once was had died in that accident.  
  
Conner hadn't killed Zeltrax; he'd just finished what had been started all those months ago.  
  
Glancing up at Goldar, Conner smiled casually under his helmet.  
  
"Do what you want with that thing," he said, jerking his head towards Zeltrax's remains. "As far as I'm concerned, you can have him."  
  
With that, Conner slid his weapons back into their holsters on his belt, tapped his communicator, and vanished from Serpentera, leaving Goldar to fume in rage at another failed plan as he activated the controls that would send Serpentera back to the moon palace once again.


	16. Leaving the Legends

OK, since some people think Zeltrax is still alive, I'll just make it clear; he's _not_. He may have survived near-death experiences in the series, but this time around Conner actually _saw_ the body- hell, he _shot_ the body in its _head_ , which is where Zeltrax's only real remaining organic component (His brain) is kept according to all available information- so I think it's pretty clear that Zeltrax can't come back, given that his entire _brain_ has been destroyed

Dino Thunder: Generations  
  
As she watched the massive form of Serpentera slowly begin to rise up into the air, leaving the three Megazords that had bee fighting it to watch as it vanished, only one thought really concerned Kira at that moment.  
  
 _Where was Conner_?  
  
Ok, admittedly the lack of Doctor O. was a more _serious_ concern for her in the overall scheme of things- after all, if he didn't survive until the time she met him in the future her entire _life_ could be altered- but, right now, the absence of her new boyfriend was the thing she was more concerned about.  
  
She was _not_ going to allow him to die before she'd even had a chance to actually go on a date with him in the first place…  
  
Then she saw a green light appear on the other side of the zord cockpit, and she smiled broadly under her own helmet.  
  
" _Conner_!" she yelled, looking over at her fellow Ranger with a broad grin on her face; if she hadn't been wearing the helmet, she would have run over there and kissed him.  
  
Of course, that was before she fully took in his body language, and saw that he was clearly shaken at something that had happened while he was 'away'.  
  
"Uh… Conner?" she asked, getting up from her seat and anxiously walking over to the new Green Ranger, placing a concerned hand on his shoulder. "You OK?"  
  
"I killed him…" Conner whispered, so softly that Kira could barely even hear him.  
  
"What?" Kira asked, stepping back anxiously to look at Conner. "You killed who?"  
  
"Zeltrax…" Conner whispered, looking back up at her, a shocked tone to his voice. "We were fighting… I'd destroyed the White Gem duplicate… Goldar stabbed him… and I shot him… I shot his _head_ … he's dead… I _killed_ him…"  
  
Despite everything that Zeltrax had done to them, Kira understood why this was getting to Conner so much. After all, every adversary faced by the Rangers of the past was either an outright monster or so far removed from human that it couldn't even be CONSIDERED a human being any more (Master Org in the later days of the Wild Force era sprang to mind; he'd pretty much sacrificed the last of his 'humanity' to turn himself into a full-fledged Org in the end), but Zeltrax?  
  
For all his evil, he was still fundamentally a human being, who'd just made the wrong assumptions based on the facts he'd possessed, and allowed his pain and rage at the accident to drive him onto the path he'd taken.  
  
Despite that, however, Kira was _not_ going to let her new boyfriend beat himself up about this for longer than he absolutely had to; grief was all well and good, but he'd done what he'd needed to do, and he had to realise that.  
  
"Conner," she said, taking a hold of the chin of her boyfriend's new helmet and turning his head to look at her, "I've got nothing against you regretting what you did- as Doctor O.'s told us in the past, it's the details like regret that separate _us_ from our opponents- but if I understand what you've told me, than what happened _wasn't_ your fault, OK?"  
  
"It wasn't my _fault_?" Conner asked, looking at Kira with (She presumed) an incredulous expression under his helmet. "Kira, I shot him in the _head_ -"  
  
" _After_ Goldar had stabbed him in the chest; you pointed that out yourself," Kira pointed out, giving Conner's chin a brief, sharp tug to make sure he was still looking at her. "Conner, we both know what Goldar was capable of from Doctor O.'s old files; if he did something like _that_ to Zeltrax, it seems pretty clear he wasn't intending for the guy to live much longer anyway."  
  
"Maybe, but I shouldn't have just _shot_ him like that!" Conner retorted, pain at his actions clear in his voice as he looked back at her. "He was still human-"  
  
"And, if anything, you shooting him in the head may have been the most humane thing you could have done for him in that situation," Kira interrupted, glaring at her boyfriend. "It's unpleasant to think about, I know, but it's practically impossible that he could have lasted much longer with a _sword_ in him, no matter _how_ powerful he is, and if you'd left him _intact_ , who's to say Zedd and Rita wouldn't have found some way to scan his brain and use his future knowledge against the team after we left?"  
  
Reaching up to the back of Conner's helmet, Kira disconnected the clips that held the helmet onto the wearer's head and removed the green helmet, exposing the face of her Red Ranger even as she reached up to her own helmet and pulled it off, the better to stare into his eyes.  
  
"Goldar wouldn't have let you get Zeltrax out of there, and Zeltrax wouldn't have _wanted_ to go with you even if he was _able_ to make a decision about anything," Kira continued, staring into Conner's shaken face. "You had to make the call for the best of the majority- in this case, by preventing the history of the next ten or so years from being altered by the information Zedd and Rita could have gained from Zeltrax- and you made it. He's unlikely to have told them much so far- if nothing else, there was little information about the Orb of Doom incident available to anybody who _wasn't_ a Ranger at the time- but his knowledge about later monsters and villains was too risky for him to be left here intact. You _had_ to take him out for _good_ in case they were able to figure out some way to use him against the others."  
  
Noting that Conner still seemed sceptical, Kira sighed as she crouched down to look up at Conner, reaching up with one hand to tenderly touch his cheek.  
  
"Sometimes, being a hero just isn't pretty, Conner," she said, looking at the young man she'd come to love with eyes that she could only hope reflected the full scale of the faith she had in him to have made the right decision. "When push comes to shove, we sometimes have to make the call to save what we know…"  
  
"Even if it isn't the pleasant option, huh?" Conner replied, smiling slightly at Kira, the guilt and pain in his eyes somewhat lessened as he looked back at her. "Thanks. I… I guess I needed to hear that."  
  
"Any time," Kira smiled, leaning up to kiss Conner briefly on the lips before she pulled back to look at him once more, glaring pointedly at her teammate. "Just remember; your grief over what you did is what makes you _better_ than Zeltrax or Goldar. It's when you _stop_ worrying about the fates of the people we fight that you should start worrying about yourself."  
  
"I'll bear that in mind," Conner replied, a broader smile on his lips as he turned back to the controls before him and activated the communication system. "Hey, guys; everyone OK over there?"  
  
" _We're all fine, thanks, Conner_ ," Tommy's voice replied over the speaker. " _What happened to Zeltrax and Goldar_?"  
  
"Goldar just took Serpentera back up to the moon palace; I think he didn't want to risk Zedd being mad at him for losing the zord on top of his current failures," Conner replied simply, after exchanging a brief glance with Kira before turning back to the communicator. "As for Zeltrax, he's been… dealt with; he won't be troubling us again."  
  
For a moment, there was silence over the radio, leaving Conner worried if his future mentor was uncertain about the implications of that sentence, but, when he spoke again, his voice was normal, with no recrimination behind it.  
  
In many ways, Conner liked to think that the man who would teach him everything about being a Ranger almost understood why he'd done what he'd done to Zeltrax, even if he might not _agree_ with it at this point in his life.  
  
" _Well, at least_ that's _over and done with_ ," the future Black Dino Thunder Ranger said on the other end of the communicator, making no reference to his thoughts on Conner's actions. " _Come on; let's get back to the Command Centre. Don't worry about your zords; they'll probably just head off with ours back to the Temple of Power_."  
  
"Right," Conner said, nodding briefly at the communicator as he glanced over at Kira. "We'll join you at the Command Centre in a minute, OK?"  
  
" _Agreed_ ," Billy's voice said over the radio. " _I'll make sure that the computer's finished modifying the Shogunzords to accept commands from your Dino Gems; hopefully, we'll be able to complete that program before you have to return to your present_."  
  
"Thanks," Kira said, before terminating the communication. Glancing out the window at the other zords, the two Rangers from the future watched with a brief smile as the now-familiar streaks of coloured energy flew out of the massive machines, which then proceeded to walk back towards the desert from which they'd come originally, before looking back at each other.  
  
"It's been a wild ride, hasn't it?" Kira smiled, as she indicated the zord they currently stood in with a wave of her hand. "Who'd have thought that just going to Angel Grove would result in something like _this_?"  
  
"Yeah," Conner said, smiling slightly as he looked back at his new girlfriend. "We came here for a new weapon, and we're leaving after working side-by-side with the people who started the Ranger legend, with new powers, _totally_ new zords…"  
  
"And each other?" Kira asked, smiling slightly as she reached up to place a hand on the back of Conner's neck.  
  
"And each other," Conner agreed, as he leaned down briefly to kiss her before pulling back, a small grin on his face. "Definitely the _best_ part of this experience, in my opinion."  
  
"Agreed," Kira said, smiling back at her new boyfriend before she sighed and glanced at the zord around them. "Come on; let's send these things back to the Temple and join the others at the Command Centre."  
  
Nodding briefly, Conner briefly allowed his instinct to take over once more, reached out to quickly tap a few buttons on a nearby panel, and then he and Kira activated their new teleporters just as the zords began to split apart once more.

* * *

A moment later, the two of them were once again standing in the original Command Centre, their helmets under their arms as they looked over at their new friends, all of whom had also removed their helmets and .

"Ah, good, you're here," Billy said, smiling broadly over at the two new Ninja Rangers as he stood up from the console he'd been examining. "You'll be glad to know that everything seems to be under control at this end; I just ran a quick simulation on the computers, and my reprogramming of the Shogunzords and the Dino Gems has been successful."

"You did it?" Kira said, looking in surprise at the Blue Ranger. She'd always known he was intelligent from Doctor O.'s files, but pulling something like this off that _fast_ …

"Exactly," Billy replied, smiling over at his new friends as he reached over to open a small hatch in the console. "When you return to your own time, you and your teammates should be able to summon your respective Shogunzords as easily as if you'd always had them."

Even as he spoke, Billy had put his hand into the hatch, Billy took out the two Dino Gems and tossed them over to his new friends, who casually caught them in one hand before attaching them back into the newly-appeared gauntlets on their wrists; the gauntlets 'vanished' once the gem had been reattached, but Conner and Kira could still feel the gauntlets underneath their gloves.

"You're _sure_ this'll all be OK?" Conner asked, looking inquiringly over at Alpha; Billy may have been the one to program the zords, but given that Alpha had probably been around in the command centre since it was first put together "I mean, the zords won't permanently shut down if they're not used all that often or something, right?"

"Oh, don't worry, Conner; so long as nothing happens to the Shogunzords between now and your time, they'll all be fine when you need them in the future," Alpha assured the future Red Ranger. "Admittedly, they might be a _bit_ 'stiff'- for lack of a better term- at first, but give them some time and everything will be just as operational as they are at the moment."

"Cool," Kira said, smiling over at the robot

"Thanks, guys," Conner said, nodding at the various Rangers standing around him and Kira. "We… well, we're grateful for your help in this; we never meant to drag you guys into this situation, and we appreciate that you didn't just leave us to handle it on our own."

Tommy shook his head. "No, Conner; thank _you_ ," he said, walking over to place a hand on the future Red Ranger's shoulder. "Your presence here has shown us that, no matter what else comes our way, the legacy of the Power Rangers shall continue beyond our time… and, most importantly of all, that it will be continued by people who definitely _deserve_ the power that they've been trusted with."

Then he smiled slightly as he lightly punched Conner on the shoulder. "Besides, we're all Rangers here; how could we leave you to handle _any_ problem on your own if there was anything we could do to help you?"

"Agreed on both counts," Billy put in, nodding in confirmation.

"Absolutely," Aisha added, smiling approvingly at the young woman who would go on to inherit her colour.

"Trust me; I, for one, couldn't ask for a better successor," Rocky continued, giving Conner an appreciative thumbs-up.

As the other Rangers all nodded their agreement with their teammates, Conner and Kira smiled back gratefully at their new friends, gratified to hear such praise coming from those who had work the people who began the Ranger legacy in the first place.

"Thanks, guys," Kira said, nodding gratefully at the six Rangers before them. "We… well, Conner already said it, but I'd just like to second that emotion; we appreciate your help."

"Any time," Adam said casually, before he glanced up at Zordon. "So, now that we've dealt with their villains, how do we get them back to their own time?"

"WITH THEIR NEW NINJA POWERS, SUCH A TASK CAN BE EASILY ACCOMPLISHED," Zordon replied, looking reassuringly at the Rangers before him. "CONNER, KIRA, YOU TWO MUST STAND IN THE CENTRE OF THE COMMAND CENTRE WHILE THE OTHERS SURROUND YOU IN A CIRCLE. WHILE THE REST OF YOU FOCUS YOUR POWERS TO AMPLIFY THE TEMPORAL ENERGY THAT SURROUNDS CONNER AND KIRA, ALPHA AND I SHALL THEN USE THE COMMAND CENTRE'S LINK TO THE POWER COINS TO SAFELY CONTAIN AND CHANNEL THE ENERGY IN QUESTION."

"And that'll allow Conner and Kira to return home safely?" Kat asked, looking inquiringly back at Zordon as she and the others moved into their delegated positions.

"CORRECT, KATHERINE," Zordon said, 'nodding' as the circle was formed. "WHILE YOU USE YOUR OWN RANGER ENERGIES TO 'BOOST' THE CURRENT INSTABILITY IN CONNER AND KIRA'S CELLS, ALPHA AND I SHALL USE THEIR NEW CONNECTION TO THE NINJA POWERS TO PREVENT THE TEMPORAL ENERGY FROM GROWING AT TOO RAPID A RATE, SAFELY CONTAINING THE ENERGY. AS A RESULT, WE SHALL SUCCEED IN CHANNELLING AND TRANSFORMING THAT TEMPORAL ENERGY INTO THE CREATION OF A PORTAL THAT SHALL SEND CONNER AND KIRA BACK TO THEIR TIME OF ORIGIN, WHERE THE OTHER RANGERS OF THAT TIME ARE LOCATED."

"Wait, you mean we'll show up back in our base?" Conner asked, looking up at Zordon with a small smile.

"INDEED, CONNER McKNIGHT," Zordon nodded at the Red Ranger of the future. "YOU SHALL BE RETURNED DIRECTLY TO YOUR FRIENDS AND ALLIES, AT ALMOST PRECISELY THE MOMENT WHEN YOU ORIGINALLY DEPARTED FROM THAT TIME."

" _Excellent_ ," Kira smiled, as she looked over at Conner with a broad smile. "The sooner we get there, the sooner we can deal with… our current problem," she added, hoping nobody noticed how she'd briefly glanced in Tommy's direction; they were having to erase enough memories without risking their future mentor remembering the Green Ranger's brief time in the future…

 _No two ways about it_ , Kira thought to herself, as she and Conner picked up their helmets and placed them back on before moving to stand in the middle of the circle created by the other six Rangers. _Time travel is_ way _too confusing for me; I don't know_ how _the Time Force team_ ever _coped with it on a long-term basis_ …

As Conner and Kira positioned themselves in the middle of the circle, the surrounding Rangers joined hands, closed their eyes, raised their heads slightly, and began to concentrate. As Conner and Kira reached out to connect hands themselves, instinctively knowing that such an act would help to focus the energy, a faint golden blow appeared around the edge of the circle, a glow which rapidly increased in intensity. In a matter of moments, a brilliant golden glow surrounded the Rangers of the present, as less intense but still powerful glowing lines stretched from the circle to meet Conner and Kira as they stood in the centre.

"Wow…" Conner whispered, staring at Kira's glowing form before him. Even though her helmet prevented him from seeing her face, right now, as he stood there before her, taking in the sight of her in her new form-fitting purple uniform…

Even without being able to see her face, Conner couldn't help but think that the golden glow surrounding her made her look like an angel right now.

No sooner had the thought crossed his mind then there was a brief 'explosion' of light off to one side, than faded almost as soon as it had appeared to reveal a large gleaming gold 'hole' in the air before them, swirling like the hole was a plughole and the golden energy around it was water that was being drained out of a sink.

"Wow…" Kira's voice whispered, breaking into Conner's train of thought; he hadn't even noticed the silence that had settled over the Command Centre after the portal had 'activated'. "This is our way home, huh?"

"Precisely," Alpha said from off to the side. "Simply step through the portal before you, and you shall once again find yourself back among your fellow Rangers, the Shogunzords ready and waiting for you to use them… along with your new Ninjazords, of course."

"Cool," Conner said, grinning slightly before he looked back over at the other Rangers one last time. "It's been brief, but trust me when I say… it's been an _honour_ to fight with you all these last couple of hours."

Before any of the other Rangers could say anything to that, Conner had turned around and dived through the portal before him, which briefly glowed brighter than it had up to that point before returning to normal, Conner having vanished.

As Kira moved to stand before the portal, she paused for a brief moment, as though thinking about something, before she turned to look back at Zordon.

"Uh … Zordon?" she asked, an uncertain tone in her voice as she addressed the being who had created the Ranger legacy all those years ago. "When you do what we… discussed… could you just put a… time block on their memories? You know, so they'll remember this when they catch up to our time? I mean, I know you'd _have_ to do this, but… well, I'd like to know they won't lose their memory of this _forever_ …"

Zordon nodded (As much as someone who was only a head _could_ nod) in understanding at Earth's first Purple Ranger.

"OF COURSE, KIRA FORD," he said, smiling at the future Yellow Ranger. "GOOD LUCK TO YOU AND YOUR ALLIES IN YOUR STRUGGLES. MAY THE POWER PROTECT YOU."

"Thanks," Kira said, smiling slightly at Zordon as she looked back at the other Rangers. "Good luck to you all, guys. Trust me… you'll do fine."

Her eyes remaining fixed on her new friends, Kira gave one last, grateful nod in their direction, her expression saying more than words ever could, and then leapt through the portal before her. As the Rangers watched, the portal briefly swirled at a faster rate than it had ever done earlier, and then vanished, as though it had been water draining out of a plug.

* * *

For a moment, there was silence as the six remaining Rangers wished their future successors the best of luck in whatever challenges awaited them in the future, until Kat finally spoke.

"What she discussed?" the current Pink Ranger asked, looking in confusion up at Zordon. "What did she mean by that?"

"TO PRESERVE THE TIMELINE CONNER McKNIGHT AND KIRA FORD HAVE COME FROM, IT SHALL BE NECESSARY TO ERASE YOUR MEMORIES RELATING TO YOUR FUTURE," Zordon explained, looking apologetically at his Rangers. "PLEASE UNDERSTAND; IT IS NOT BECAUSE THEY DID NOT TRUST YOU NOT TO USE YOUR FUTURE KNOWLEDGE-"

"It's just that they want to make _sure_ we don't use it unintentionally, correct?" Billy put in, looking inquiringly up at Zordon. "I mean, now that we _know_ Earth survives into the future, we might, on some level, not give our fights all the concentration that we would have given them otherwise- after all, we know that Earth's _destined_ to survive- and so, since we're not trying as hard as we might have done otherwise, it results in us changing history so what's just happened never comes to pass."

"INDEED," Zordon said, nodding gratefully in Billy's direction. "HOWEVER, AS YOU HEARD, I SHALL NOT PERMANENTLY REMOVE YOUR MEMORIES BUT SIMPLY PLACE A 'TIME LIMIT' ON THEM; ONCE YOUR LIVES CATCH UP THE TIME PERIOD THAT CONNER AND KRIA CAME FROM, YOU SHALL ALL REMEMBER THE EVENTS THAT HAVE TAKEN PLACE HERE."

For a moment, there was silence in the Command Centre as the six Rangers looked uncertainly between each other, until Tommy shrugged casually as he looked back at Zordon.

"Well, at least we'll remember it all _some_ day," he said, as he glanced back at his friends. "Are you guys with me?"

After a moment of yet more uncertain glances being exchanged between each other, Billy nodded slightly and spoke for all five of the other Rangers.

"If it ensures that the future those two knew came to pass… and if we'll get to remember these events _eventually_ … I think we can all accept forgetting about them for the moment," he said, as he looking back up at Zordon. "Well, let's get it over with."

Nodding gratefully at his Rangers for their understanding, Zordon closed his eyes, focused briefly, and a brief beam of white energy emitted from his column to spread around the room, making contact with the heads of all six Rangers.

As Zordon concentrated on suppressing his Rangers' memories of the last few hours, simultaneously inserting a 'time-delay' spell that would restore their memories when their present caught up with Conner and Kira's future, he spared a moment's thought for the two young people who he had known for so short a time, and who would go on to protect the world from an all-new danger in the future.

He may never meet them again, but the brief time he had spent with them had assured him that they would make worthy successors to the Power Ranger legacy he and Alpha had brought to Earth.

Even if some of the future Ranger teams never even learned his _name_ \- after all, Conner and Kira may have had the advantage of being trained by Tommy in the future, but other teams would not be so fortunate- Zordon's legacy of good would endure, and that was all that mattered to him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, that's the past part of this story done; from here on in, it's back to the future, where the evil Green Ranger is going to _seriously_ get his ass kicked, both by his 'replacement' (Conner _is_ using his costume now, after all) and (My personal favourite idea) his own future self….


	17. Return to the Present

"Wait a minute; they've _vanished_?" Ethan asked, staring in shock at Hayley as she studied the computer screen before her. "What do you mean, _vanished_?"

"I meant what I said; I can't detect their Dino Gem energies any more," Hayley said, glancing impatiently over at Ethan before she turned back to study the computer screen before her. "One minute they were there, the next… they weren't."

Hayley wished she could give the Blue Ranger a more detailed answer to his question, but she still wasn't entirely clear what had happened herself; one minute she'd been monitoring the computer to make sure that the Green Ranger didn't show up before Conner and Kira got back- Trent was currently keeping an eye on the coffee shop while she monitored the situation down here, but he was still available if the Dino Stegozord was needed- and the next, the computer had sounded an alert telling her that there was apparently no longer any energy coming from the Red and Yellow Dino Gems.

If it wasn't for the fact that she would have been alerted automatically if Conner and Kira got into a fight when they morphed- something the Rangers _always_ had time to do no matter _what_ the monster was that they were facing-, she would have worried that Mesogog had sent another monster after them.

As it was, she just couldn't understand it.

It was events like this that made her wish that Tommy hadn't been knocked out when the Green Ranger arrived in the present; her scans seemed to show that he should be waking up soon as his body adapted to the presence of his past self, but she would definitely have preferred it if he'd been here from the beginning to help her deal with this little mystery. Admittedly, the technical side of things wasn't exactly his expertise, but he at least knew as much about the Dino Gems as anyone else alive, save for Mesogog (Who was after them for his own schemes) and Anton Mercer (Who'd helped Tommy discover them all those years ago). If he couldn't come up with _some_ kind of explanation for why the gems had suddenly vanished from her sensors, Hayley would have been simultaneously surprised and worried (She wasn't sure which of the two would have been the dominant emotion, really).

"But… but how could that _happen_?" Ethan asked, staring in confusion at Hayley as she anxiously studied the computer readouts before her, constantly frustrated at the lack of anything useful from the virus scan that she was currently running on the system in case of a more mundane explanation for the current problem. "You've always told us that the Gems can't just shut down like that; you'd get some _warning_ before-"

A sudden golden glow of energy spread through the room, cutting off Ethan before he could finish what he'd been about to say. Turning around in the direction of the glow in question, Hayley's eyes widened in shock as she saw a strange swirling golden portal- there was nothing else it could be- hoving in the air in the middle of the cave, almost directly between her, Ethan, and Tommy's unconscious body, still shaking slightly on the table she'd placed him on earlier (Although the shaking was practically nonexistent now, a good sign that he'd wake up soon) as the residual Green Ranger energy in his body 'fought' against his current powers as the Black Ranger.

Before Hayley had even managed to start developing a theory about what this portal thing was doing in the middle of their base, it briefly glowed, and deposited the one figure she did _not_ want to see in the command centre right in the middle of the floor.

"Oh no…" Ethan whispered, as his eyes took in the sight of the original Green Ranger, golden 'shield'- Hayley had never entirely understood how something that was essentially just extra armour could be called a _shield_ , but Tommy had assured her that it was the correct term- and all, crouched in the middle of the room and looking around himself uncertainly. "He's _here_ …"

To Ethan's credit, however, he didn't let this new development phase him for long; before the Green Ranger could even move to take action, Ethan had activated his Dino power- Hayley guessed that he didn't want to waste the time he would have needed to morph, and his dino-strength was just as effective in a fight anyway- charged at the Green Ranger and pinned him to the wall with his enhanced strength before the guy could even fight back, his hands clutching his foe's shoulders as he glared at the black visor.

* * *

"OK then, _asshole_!" Ethan yelled up at the Green Ranger, who could only stare at him as though stunned at this unexpected turn of events; Ethan knew that he couldn't _kill_ this Green Ranger- if he did, Doctor O. could never even exist- but that didn't mean he couldn't try and _scare_ the asshole into giving up.

"I don't know _how_ you got here," Ethan continued, as he tightened his grip on his adversary's throat, "but I _promise_ you-"  
  
"Ethan, _don't_!" a voice yelled from behind the Blue Ranger. Before Ethan could fully process who'd spoken, a hand wearing a white glove with purple diamonds around it grabbed his arm, prompting him to look in the direction of the voice…  
  
And his eyes widened in shock.  
  
It was a woman wearing a costume in the same style as the _original_ Power Rangers.  
  
True, this costume was a purple colour that he'd never seen before in his life, but the general pattern of it exactly matched that of the costume worn by Earth's first ever team of Power Rangers.  
  
The question was, was she on _their_ side, or was this another of Mesogog's plots to destroy them using an evil Ranger…  
  
Then his ears fully registered the voice that had spoken earlier, and he felt like his eyes were going to fall out of his head.  
  
" _KIRA_?!" he yelled, staring incredulously at the purple clad form before him. "That's _YOU_ in there?!"  
  
"Yeah," the Purple Ranger- _Kira_ \- replied, placing her hands on her hips as she indicated the green form in Ethan's hands. "By the way, any chance you could let Conner go right now; we _do_ kind of need him to form our Megazords, you know."  
  
Ethan blinked incredulously for a few moments at that, trying to process what he'd just heard.  
  
There was no _way_ Kira meant what he thought she meant…  
  
But, at the same time, there was no way in _Hell_ that she'd be joking about something this serious.  
  
"Are you saying… that's _Conner_?" Hayley's voice said from behind Ethan, leaving the blue Ranger making a mental note to find _some_ way to repay her for that save; he couldn't think of anything he could have said right then that wouldn't leave him looking like a complete idiot. "But… but _how_?"  
  
"You know… I _can_ still… talk up here," Conner's voice said from the green-clad form that Ethan was still holding up in the air; his voice was somewhat slow, but that was mainly because of the hands around his throat that made his access to air somewhat limited at the present. "Any chance… you could… let me _down_ …sometime soon; this… isn't exactly… comfy, you know?"  
  
"Uh… right… sure…" Ethan muttered, as he uncertainly lowered the green form before back to the ground. As he stepped back, the 'new' Green Ranger chuckled slightly as he reached up to his helmet, removing it to reveal Conner's familiar face he looked back at his blue-clad teammate.  
  
"Good reflexes, by the way; I definitely _wasn't_ expecting you to do something like that when I showed up," he said, rubbing his throat with a brief wince before he smiled somewhat teasingly over at Kira as she removed her helmet as well (With a part of his mind, Ethan noted that the portal they'd come through had vanished, but decided he'd have to ask about that later). "What took you so long, by the way; I thought you were right behind me?"  
  
"Just had to ask Zordon a quick favour," Kira replied, shrugging nonchalantly as she tucked her new helmet under her arm. "I mean, after all they'd done for us-"  
  
"Hold on; _Zordon_?" Ethan yelled, holding up his hands and looking desperately between his two fellow Rangers. "Can Hayley and I get the Cliff Notes version of this any time soon? What the hell _happened_ to you two?"

* * *

"Oh… right… sorry," Conner chuckled, exchanging a brief, sheepish smile with Kira before he looked back at Ethan and Hayley. "Long story short? We got to the Orb of Doom, got zapped nine years into the past, met up with the Rangers of the time, and helped them tackle Serpentera, the White Ranger Clone and Zeltrax- both of whom had been sent into the past _with_ us when the Orb started acting up…"

"In exchange for which we got these new powers, new zords, and the original Blue Ranger programmed the Shogunzords to take orders from the Dino Gems while we kicked monster ass using our new abilities," Kira continued equally casually, as she walked over to stand beside Conner, who threw an arm affectionately over her shoulders as he grinned down at her.  
  
"Now _that_ is keeping it short," he said, smiling casually down at her before he leaned in to plant a kiss in her hair. "I guess that's why I fell for you."  
  
" _Just_ that?" Kira retorted, looking back at her friend with a teasingly smirk on her face.  
  
"Well… uh… I mean…" Conner muttered, briefly wondering if he should start to panic before Kira chuckled and leaned up to kiss him briefly on the lips.  
  
"You're cute when you're flustered, you know that?" she said, a broad grin on her face as she looked at him.  
  
Remembering that they still had company, the two Rangers looked up, only to smile slightly at the literally gob-smacked expressions on their allies' faces.  
  
If Conner had thought Ethan looked shocked when they first learned that Doctor O. had been a Power Ranger, it was nothing compared to how he looked right now, as he tried to process the fact that his two friends had just _kissed_ right in front of him.  
  
"What?" the Red Ranger smiled teasingly over at his friend. "Can't I kiss my girlfriend in public?"  
  
" _GIRLFRIEND_?" Ethan yelled; if there'd been any windows, they would most likely have broken from the sheer volume of Ethan's yell.  
  
"Geez, loud much?" Kira said, looking at Ethan with an affectionately exasperated smile. "Ethan, you need to calm down; all this yelling can't be good for you-"  
  
"Ugh…" a voice suddenly groaned from behind the two newer arrivals, breaking off any conversation that might have taken place for the moment. "Wh… what _hit_ me…?"  
  
"Tom- Doctor O.?" Conner said, as he and Kira walked over to stand beside the man who they'd so recently fought beside at the prime of his Ranger career. "Are you OK?"  
  
"C… Conner?" their teacher said, looking dazedly up at the Red Dino Thunder Ranger for a moment, before his eyes fell on the green costume and he smiled slightly. "So… that _wasn't_ a dream, huh?"  
  
"Wait a minute; you mean you _know_ what they're doing dressed like… well, like the _original_ Rangers?" Hayley interjected, looking with an almost hurt expression at Earth's original Green and White Ranger. "In other words, they really _did_ travel back in time? They really _did_ meet you in the past?"  
  
"Uh… pretty much… yeah," Tommy said, blinking his eyes slightly as he flexed his muscles, evidently trying to shake off any discomfort that remained after his recent 'seizures'. "Why?"  
  
"Well, couldn't have mentioned this to _somebody_ before now?" Hayley asked, waving an impatient hand at the two younger Rangers. "It _might_ have been helpful to know that some of us would have been going time-travelling at some point in our lives, you know! Ethan and I thought that they'd been _killed_ or something, and you _knew_ that-"  
  
"Uh… actually, he _couldn't_ have remembered it before now," Kira said, raising her hand slightly as she looked apologetically over at their technical advisor. "Just before we left, Conner and I had Zordon put a kind of… 'time delay switch' on his memory of meeting us back then that would stop him and the others from remembering us until they'd 'caught up' with our present; none of the other Rangers from that time period would have even remembered we were ever _there_ until now."  
  
"Yeah… tell me about it…" Tommy groaned as he sat up, rubbing his head as he sat up and looked at the two teenagers before him. "Well… at least you guys made it back to the present all right. I have to admit, we were all a bit worried that the portal wouldn't quite have worked… well, before we forgot about it, of course."  
  
"It worked out fine, Doctor O.; trust me on that," Conner replied, before he sighed and looked back at Hayley and Ethan. "Although, judging by your reaction to me, I take it that we've still got to deal with Mesogog's latest sucker?"  
  
"That reminds me, who _are_ you guys dealing with here anyway?" Tommy asked, looking inquiringly at his new successor to the Green Ranger mantle. "You never actually told any of us in the past, and as for the present… Well, all I remember before I collapsed is suddenly feeling like a part of myself had been… well, _torn_ away, for lack of a better term… and then, when I woke up here, I felt like… like an injury had healed over."  
  
"Ah," Hayley said, as she exchanged uncertain glances with the other Rangers. "Well, that's _kind_ of a long story…"  
  
Before anything further could be said, a loud beeping suddenly came from the monitor behind them, signalling an incoming message from the only Ranger currently absence for the room.  
  
"Trent?" Hayley said, walking over to activate the speaker after shooting an apologetic glance in the direction of the Black Ranger. "What's wrong?"  
  
" _About what you'd expect_ ," Trent said, anxiety evident in his voice as his face appeared on the screen; it looked like he was standing in the street just outside the Cybercafe. " _Our new sparring partner's just shown up, and he's trashing downtown;_ please _tell me that you have good news_!"  
  
"Good news?" Kira interjected, smiling slightly as she leaned over to speak into the monitor's microphone herself. "You _could_ say that; Doctor O.'s awake and Conner and I are back, among other things."  
  
" _Kira_?" Trent said, looking over at her face with a confused expression. " _Uh… what's with the purple_?"  
  
"Long story that we _don't_ have time for, Trent; just tell us what the situation is down there," Tommy interjected, staring grimly at the White Ranger. "And while you're at it, maybe you could all answer me one question; who the _hell_ are we dealing with right now?"  
  
For a moment, the assorted Rangers in the room looked uncertainly at each other, as though they were all still trying to figure out an alternative way to explain their current problem rather than the simple, honest one…  
  
Then Hayley, coming to a decision, sighed and looked back at Trent, who was continuing to look uncertainly at his communicator.  
  
"You'd better get us a picture of our current adversary, Trent," she said, as she exchanged concerned glances with the other three Rangers. "Tommy needs to see this."  
  
" _Easy enough_ ," Trent said, nodding grimly at the older woman as he turned slightly to 'point' his communicator down the street. " _He's just down there_."

* * *

As soon as Tommy saw the figure who was currently walking casually down the high street, aiming his weapon at cars almost every step he took, he felt like his entire blood supply had just frozen.

"No…" he whispered, his eyes wide with horror as he stared at the green-and-gold clad figure before him. "It can't be… it just _can't_ be…"  
  
"Unfortunately, it is," Hayley said, as she looked back apologetically at her old friend. "All the information I have access to seems to make it clear that the Green Ranger currently out there- who also has access to the Dragonzord, I might add- isn't a clone, a robot duplicate, or a doppelganger; it's _you_ , before Jason managed to break Rita's spell."  
  
"But… but _how_?" Tommy protested, as he looked desperately over at his old friend. "I… I don't even _remember_ this happening, and I've never forgotten _anything_ that happened to me during my time under Rita's spell…"  
  
"Just a wild guess," Conner put in, raising one hand to look at his mentor, "but maybe you've just got _another_ set of wiped memories clattering around in your head somewhere?"  
  
As the rest of the team turned to look at the Red Ranger, Conner shrugged uncertainly. "I mean, Mesogog's going to have to send the guy back anyway, or Doctor O. won't be able to get involved in the research that'll end up creating him in the first place; maybe he's got some way of… wiping this guy's memories of the last few hours or so that he'll use when the time comes to send him back?"  
  
After a moment's silence, during which the other Rangers continued to look at the soccer player with expressions that he couldn't quite interpret, Conner broke the silence by sighing slightly. "Well, he's not exactly stupid or short sighted, is he? He'd _have_ to have some way of making sure he could send Greeny there back to the past without remembering what happened _now_ …"  
  
Once again, silence momentarily filled the command centre, and then Kira walked over to Conner, reached up, grabbed his head, and pulled him down for a brief, passionate kiss before she pulled away to look at him with a smile  
  
"I _knew_ there was a brain in there if you gave it a chance," she said, smiling broadly at her new boyfriend before she turned back to look at Hayley and Tommy. "It _does_ fit, doesn't it? Mesogog's nuts, but he's not exactly stupid; he'd _have_ to have a way of sending the Green Ranger back once he's finished with him in the present, or he might not even exist."  
  
Tommy nodded thoughtfully.  
  
"Yeah… it _does_ make sense…" he said, as he glanced back over at Hayley. "Think you can find us an invisiportal to get to Mesogog's lab once we've taken out… well, the _other_ me? If there's any kind of time machine, Mesogog should have the controls in there; we'll need to get in there if we're going to get… me… back where he belongs."  
  
"Check; I'll get right on it," Hayley said, nodding in confirmation at her old friend before she turned back to the computer to look at Trent. "Trent, you'll have back-up in a minute; in the meantime, morph and do what you can to keep the Green Ranger busy, OK?"  
  
" _Gotcha_ ," Trent said, nodding grimly as he terminated the connection to the others.  
  
Taking a deep breath, Tommy turned to look at Conner, Kira and Ethan, a grim expression on his face as he stared at the three children who had become as dear to him as though they were his own.  
  
"The Green Ranger is mine," he said simply. "You guys can help, but I'd prefer to do this alone."  
  
None of them needed to ask why their mentor wanted to fight his past self solo; they all knew, on some level that even they would be hard-pressed to define, that he needed this victory if he was ever going to _permanently_ lay that part of his life to rest.  
  
For over a decade, his actions as the Green Ranger had been the darkest moment of Tommy Oliver's life.  
  
Now that he had the chance to confront that nightmare, he wasn't going to give it up for anything.  
  
As Conner and Kira powered down into their casual clothes- once again, they knew without needing to say it that this battle should be fought as the Dino Thunder Rangers, rather than with their new powers- Tommy took one last look at them all, and then activated his morpher.  
  
"Ready?" he asked his team, smiling briefly as they nodded in reply before his expression became serious once more.  
  
"Let's do this," he said grimly, as the other three turned around and activated their own morphers.  
  
"Dino Thunder, Power Up! _Hah_!"


	18. Tommy VS Tommy: Round One

With the Raptor Riders and the Black Dino ATV to use as transport (The team would have preferred to use the Raptor Cycles, but the Red and Yellow ones were still in Angel Grove where Conner and Kira had left them until the team could spare someone to get them back), the now-morphed Rangers barely took more than a few minutes to reach their destination, where they grimly noted that Trent was already desperately trying (And failing, naturally; he lacked the experience that would have been necessary if he was _ever_ going to win a fight against this particular foe) to stop the Green Ranger in a head-on confrontation.

Admittedly, his lack of success could _also_ be attributed to the large number of Tyrannadrones currently surrounding him and his opponent, but Conner, for one, wasn't interested in thinking too much about such details.

All that mattered was that they had a villain to put down, right here, right now; thinking too much about the finer aspects of their current problem would get them nowhere.

"Remember what I told you!" Tommy yelled over at the other Rangers as the Raptor Riders pounded along the streets towards their destination. "Fight him if you have to, but if it comes to a one-on-one fight, _I'll_ be the one to do it!"

"Gotcha!" Conner yelled back, before he returned his attention to the matter at hand, his eyes narrowing as he stared at his teacher's past self, now standing before them surrounded by Tyrannadrones as the young man he'd once regarded as a 'rival' tried- and failed- to fight him.

This was going to be one _very_ interesting struggle…

But, as far as Conner was concerned, with the Shogunzords to help them deal with the Dragonzord in a showdown- not to mention his and Kira's new powers- this was _not_ going to be a repeat of their last confrontation with the Green Ranger.

"Hey, _asshole_!" Kira yelled, as the Green Ranger was about to bring his sword down onto Trent's chest in a potentially lethal strike. "Care to try for a rematch with _all_ of us?"

No sooner were those words out of her mouth than she and Conner had leapt off their Raptor Riders and were flying towards the Green Ranger, striking him simultaneously in each shoulder and sending him hurtling backwards as they landed.

"Hey Trent," Kira said, nodding nonchalantly at their White Ranger as he looked at them in an apparently curious manner (The helmet may it hard to be sure). "Things OK here while Conner and I were gone?"

"Uh… yeah… as good as we could expect… and what the hell _happened_ to you two anyway?" Trent asked, looking in confusion at his friends. "I mean, why the hell were you wearing a _purple_ costume when you-"

* * *

"Explanations later, Trent," Tommy said as he and Ethan took up position beside their allies, the Black Ranger's gaze fixed on the green form before them. "Right now, you guys have to take care of the Tyrannadrones; I have a few demons to put to rest."

Stepping forward, Tommy glared at the Ranger that he had once been, his arms folded as his opponent got to his feet, his mind already going over any weakness in his technique at this period of his life as the drones, somehow sensing they weren't 'needed' right now, spread out to battle the other Rangers.  
  
Admittedly, nothing useful was immediately springing to mind- you tended to forget what your fighting style used to be like after over a decade to improve it, after all- but he did clearly recall that, at this point in his life, the Sword of Darkness was his primary weapon in short-range combat, while the Drago Dagger was used to trigger miniature 'explosions' when the target got too far away from him.  
  
Since destroying the Sword of Darkness at this point wasn't an option- it needed to remain intact until Jason could destroy it in the past- Tommy concluded that his best chance of victory in this _particular_ fight would be to stay in close and not give his younger self- as much as he hated to think of the Green Ranger like that- a chance to use the Drago Dagger. They may be relatively equal in skill- and the Green Ranger _may_ have the advantage of speed and agility, being the younger of the two of them- but if he could get in close, where his own superior raw strength _might_ be able to turn the tide, he _could_ have a chance to pull off a victory without getting decapitated by… well, himself (And would something like that count as suicide, or wouldn't it?).  
  
"So," the Green Ranger stated as he glared at his Black counterpart (Tommy briefly noted that his voice when he was like this sounded far more vicious than he'd ever expected it to, almost reminding him of some of Rita's more reptilian monsters than a human being), "these Rangers can't stop me alone, so they choose to send _another_ fool to battle me?"  
  
"Not just _any_ fool," Tommy retorted, trying not to speak in his normal voice as he stared at his opponent; he didn't want to give away who he was under the helmet until he needed to. "I'm the one 'fool' I know for a _fact_ you can't _possible_ defeat."  
  
"Ha!" the Green Ranger laughed briefly as he glared at the black-clad figure before him. "I am the most powerful Ranger ever created, fool! You _cannot_ defeat me!"  
  
"Wrong," Tommy stated as he raised his Brachio Staff; if they were going to fight, he was going to start this confrontation right _now_. "As far as I'm concerned, you've already lost."  
  
With that said, he lunged towards his past self, bringing the Staff down towards his head even as the Green Ranger brought the Sword of Darkness up to parry the blow. As soon as the blow had struck home, Tommy quickly evaluated the strength level of the opponent- he couldn't bring himself to think of the figure he was currently fighting as _himself_ ; the situation was enough of a headache as it was- and confirmed his earlier estimate; the Green Ranger was strong, yes, but not strong enough to be a _serious_ threat to him in a fight.  
  
He'd be a tough opponent, but in terms of raw strength, not to mention experience…  
  
Underneath his helmet, Tommy grinned.  
  
He'd defeated the Green Ranger in his _mind_ to come out of his recent coma.  
  
Now it was time to defeat his demon in the _real_ world.  
  
As he began to rapidly exchange blows with his adversary, the Brachio Staff clashing against the Sword of Darkness at a speed that would have made thunderbolts seem slow, Tommy smiled and spared time to briefly nod in approval over at the other Dino Thunder Rangers as they moved into position around him, keeping the Tyrannadrones occupied as they tried to keep them away from their two combatants. Clearly they were willing to give him a chance to do this on his own, but they were also in a position where they could help him out if the fight didn't go his way.  
  
 _Of course_ , Tommy mused to himself as he rolled back slightly to dodge a blow from the Drago Dagger, _that_ is _rather unlikely…_  
  
 _After all_ , he continued to reflect to himself, as he reached to his side and pulled out his own Thundermax Saber, quickly bringing it up to deflect another blow from the Drago Dagger, _not only is he less experienced, but I_ do _have a greater reach than he does_.  
  
Admittedly, it wasn't _much_ of an edge- the Green Ranger's typically superior speed, most likely due to his youth, more than compensated for it as far as Tommy could tell- but, right now, every little edge counted. Whether it was because he'd forgotten some of the fine details about his abilities back then, this fight was far more evenly matched than his recent _mental_ struggle with the Green Ranger, but, overall, it didn't seem to be going as badly as it might have done…  
  
As the clash intensified, during the brief lulls in their own struggles with the multitude of Tyrannadrones around the two versions of Tommy Oliver, the other Dino Thunder Rangers found themselves almost forgetting that they were watching an actual life-or-death battle right now, and found themselves appreciating the impressive nature of the fight before them. The simple elegance of the struggle between the Green and Black Rangers… the way in which they each almost instinctively managed to parry each other's blow before they'd even hit home in the first place… the rapid pace of the fight between the two combatants…  
  
There was something almost… beautiful, for lack of a better term… about the battle, really… almost like it was a work of art rather than a fight between the dark and light aspect of one person (It was easier to think of the Green Ranger as Tommy's _evil_ self rather than his _past_ self; the whole situation was confusing enough as it was).  
  
Then the Green Ranger suddenly flipped backwards, leaving his future self staring in shock at where he'd been standing as he landed on top of a nearby wall.

_Damn_ , Tommy mused to himself as he glanced up at where his past self now stood. _I almost forgot that I could_ ever _move that fast…_

"You may be _almost_ my equal, Black Ranger!" the Green Ranger yelled down at him, sounding almost like he was smirking under his helmet. "But let's see if you can deal with _this_ without your precious Zords to back you up!"  
  
With that, he raised the Drago Dagger to his lips, blew a few notes into it…  
  
Then, a loud, familiar roar reached Tommy's ears, just as he turned around to see the familiar form of the Dragonzord rise out of the ocean beyond Reefside, roaring loudly as it emerged to fight once more.  
  
Just as he'd felt when the Wizard of Deception had created that clone of him all those years ago, Tommy felt sickened at the sight of his old Zord- more; almost his old _friend_ \- fighting on the side of evil once again.  
  
 _Except that_ this _time_ , Tommy reminded himself, as he glanced over at the rest of the Dino Thunder team with a small smile, _I'm not fighting alone_.  
  
"So," he asked, glancing over at Conner and Kira, "shall we test out Billy's handiwork?"  
  
"Thought you'd _never_ give that order," Conner said, chuckling slightly as he and Kira nodded resolutely at him.  
  
"Right then," Tommy said, as he turned his attention to Ethan and Trent, "you've seen the files; just call the Shogunzords like me and the others always did back in the day, and it should work."  
  
"Check," Ethan said; Tommy wasn't entirely surprised to note the excitement in the Blue Ranger's voice at the prospect.  
  
"OK then," Tommy said, as he raised his right hand, and, his new team behind him, echoing his every word and motion for these brief seconds, called out the words that he'd never imagined he'd say again in his life.  
  
"We need Shogunzord power, _now_!"

* * *

As soon as the words were out of their mouths, there was a sudden series of loud thumps, and then, standing at the end of the street, fists clenched and weapons drawn as they stared at their new adversary, were the five Shogunzords, clearly as ready for action as they had been the first time the Rangers of the present day had called upon their power.

They may have been out of action for a while, but, as far as Tommy could see, they were as ready to fight as they'd ever been.  
  
"What?" the Green Ranger yelled, looking in shock at the zords before him. "No! You _can't_ have _new_ Zords! It's _impossible_!"  
  
"First rule of being a Ranger, Greenie," Tommy stated, chuckling slightly at the Green Ranger's apparently shocked expression (The helmet, as always, made it hard to be sure). " _Anything_ is possible."  
  
With that said, the five Dino Thunder Rangers leapt into the air, Tommy swiftly finding himself sitting inside the cockpit of the Black Shogunzord, smiling slightly as he studied the cockpit that had once belonged to Adam Park and was now uniquely his…  
  
"All right!" he said, as he reached over to activate the communicator. "Black Shogunzord, Power Up!"  
  
" _Red Shogunzord, Power Up_!" Conner's voice yelled over the communicator, the Red Ranger clearly excited about the opportunity to use their new zords.  
  
" _Yellow Shogunzord, Power Up_!" Kira's voice put in; despite the severity of the situation they now faced, she almost sounded like she was about to start laughing from the exhilaration of their new weapons.  
  
" _White Shogunzord, Power Up_!" Trent added, sounding particularly excited at the prospect of controlling their mentor's old zord.  
  
" _Blue Shogunzord, Power Up_!" Ethan concluded, letting out a brief " _Ya-hooo_!" as the Shogunzord posed and prepared for battle.  
  
With the last command given, all five Shogunzords took up positions around the Dragonzord, drawing their weapons as they stared grimly at their adversary.  
  
" _Ha_!" the Green Ranger yelled from the ground below them, his voice somehow reaching them despite his distance from them; evidently, he'd gotten over his initial shock at what had taken place and his customary arrogance had replaced it. " _You believe that_ these _will be enough to defeat the Dragonzord? I have already all but_ destroyed _your other zords; these shall fall just as easily! Dragonzord,_ attack!"  
  
As the Green Ranger raised the Drago Dagger to his lips to blow on it, the Dragonzord raised its fingers and launched another set of missiles at its opponents…  
  
Only for the Red Shogunzord to step forward, raise its shield, and 'catch' the missiles before they could even hit their target. The red zord was sent staggering backwards by the force of the impact, but that didn't matter; for the Rangers, the important thing was that it was still standing and no serious damage had been sustained so far.  
  
" _Think you're so tough_?" Kira stated, as the Yellow Shogunzord moved forward, its rake-like weapon (Tommy regretted never learning what that thing was actually _called_ ; he'd always been satisfied at the time with just knowing that they did the job and hurt the other guy) clutched in its hand. " _Try_ this _on for size_!"  
  
Almost as soon as the Yellow Shogunzord had slashed out at the Dragonzord, sending it staggering back briefly, than the Blue and White Shogunzords had moved forward to attack, the two humanoid zords slashing and stabbing at the larger zord with the Blue Shogunzord's lance and the White Shogunzords 'daggers' (Again, Tommy wished he'd learned what the official name for those weapons was; he'd sometimes meant to do some research into that at the time, but something had always come up when he had a moment to spare).  
  
"Oh, Greenie?" he said, drawing the Black Shogunzord's bow as he stared at the Dragonzord; he may not _want_ to do this to his old friend, but if it was a choice between the Dragonzord and the Dino Thunder Rangers, the Rangers would win any day of the week.  
  
As the Dragonzord turned to face him, Tommy raised the Black Shogunzord's bow, drew it back, and aimed it at his old zord's face.  
  
"Think fast," he said grimly, mere seconds before he released the bow and launched a blast of energy towards the Dragonzord's face. The blast's effect on the Dragonzord, however, was questionable to say the least; the other zord was sent staggering slightly, but was otherwise relatively unharmed by the attacks of the Shogunzords.  
  
" _You think_ that _will be enough to defeat me_?" the Green Ranger asked mockingly- his voice still had a faint trace of fear, but otherwise he seemed as confident as ever- as the Dragonzord righted itself to glare at its foes once again. " _My zord and I are the mightiest the world has ever known; you_ cannot _defeat me_!"  
  
As much as he hated to admit it, Tommy had to confess that his past self probably had a point. The original Dinozords may have made relatively rapid work of the Dragonzord after Zordon had returned and re-energized them, but then they'd had the bonus of being directly empowered by Zordon _and_ the Power Coins, rather than simply relying on the Coins. This time around, the Shogunzords were simply relying on the Dino Gems, and Tommy couldn't be entirely sure that they'd be enough for this task, even when taking into account that the Gems had more raw power than the Coins had ever possessed.  
  
"Oh, _really_?" he said, trying not to show his apprehension over the current struggle as he glared as his old self. "If you think you're so tough, how about trying _this_ on for size? Guys, it's time to bring them together!"  
  
" _Right_!" the Dino Thunder Rangers echoed over the communicator. " _We need Shogun Megazord power,_ now!"  
  
With that, the Shogunzords all leapt up into the air, the Red Shogunzord compressing down to form the main body while the other four Shogunzords attached onto the Red Shogunzord to form the arms and legs of the new Zord. As the new Megazord's head slid down on top of the Red Shogunzord's head, the Shogun Megazord posed in a combat stance, looking dramatically at the Dragonzord as it prepared for battle.  
  
"So, Greenie," Tommy stated nonchalantly over the communicator, as he and the rest of the Dino Thunder took up their positions in the new control room of the Shogun Megazord (He'd taken up his previous place in the control room, while Conner, Kira, Ethan and Trent had taken Rocky, Aisha, Billy and Adam's old places respectively), "how confident do you feel about your chances _now_?"

* * *

As he watched the battle between the past and present versions of Doctor Oliver unfold on the monitors before him, Mesogog could barely restrain himself from punching something in frustration.

 _HOW_? he thought to himself, as he stared in shock at the sight on the screens before him. _How could they have summoned the SHOGUNZORDS to aid them? This is_ impossible _! Those Zords are_ GONE _! Their own have been SHATTERED! I was WINNING! They CANNOT have found_ ANOTHER _way to defy me!_  
  
As he stared grimly at the sight before him, however, Mesogog began to calm down as he studied the sight before him, his mind already calculating the best way to deal with this situation. While he had faith in the Green Ranger's powers, to say nothing of the raw talent that he must surely possess as Doctor Oliver's past self, the fact remained that the Shogunzords were of a later generation than the Dragonzord, and possessed significantly greater power in a fight. The Dragonzord was one of the most powerful single zords that had ever been possessed by the Power Rangers, but it was still only one zord…  
  
Then inspiration struck Mesogog.  
  
There may still be _one_ way he could win this fight…  
  
It was an uncertain scheme, of course, but if it worked as well as he was certain it would, they could not only eliminate the Rangers, but also ensure that the Green Ranger didn't put up a struggle when the time came to return him to _his_ time frame.  
  
"Elsa?" he said, as he reached over to activate the communicator on his chair that would put him in contact with his only remaining intelligent servant; the White Clone had yet to return from his earlier mission, and Zeltrax, of course, was dead. "Go to the Green Ranger, and carry out the following instructions…"

* * *

The Green Ranger didn't even have time to reply to the Black Ranger's taunt; as soon as the Black Ranger's words had reached his ears, the Shogun Megazord lashed out at the Dragonzord, punching it in the chest with one hand as the other grabbed one of the other zord's arms.

Before the Green Ranger could respond to this attack, the Shogun Megazord had hurled the Dragonzord over its head and sent it crashing into the ground nearby. As the Dragonzord staggered back to its feet, it raised one hand to launch missiles at its adversary, but the Shogun Megazord merely raised an arm and absorbed the worst of the blast; it was still sent staggering from the impact, but it was otherwise all right.  
  
" _No_!" the Green Ranger roared, as he raised the Dagger to his lips once again, preparing to blow a command into the instrument and make his zord rise again…  
  
"Wait," a voice said, reaching out and clasping his arm.  
  
"What the…?" the Green Ranger said in confusion, his eyes widening slightly as he turned to look at the source of the voice. Standing to his side was a woman, about a decade older than he was, with short dark hair arranged tightly around her face and a long thin ponytail down her back. She was dressed in a form-fitting sleeveless black leather top and trousers, with elbow-length black gloves of the same material and fishnet-style sleeves underneath her arms. "Who are _you_?"  
  
"My name is Elsa," the woman said, smiling slightly at the Green Ranger. "I have come from Mesogog to help you defeat the Dino Thunder Rangers."  
  
"Really?" the Green Ranger stated grimly as he looked over the woman, a critical expression under his helmet as he sceptically studied the new arrival. "Not that I doubt your word- if you were working _with_ these foolish Rangers, you would have attempted to attack me already- but what can _you_ do to help me _now_?"  
  
"Simple enough," Elsa replied, smiling slightly as she reached over to place a hand on the Drago Dagger. "My master and I are willing to give you an… _upgrade_."

* * *

"Oh yeah!" Conner smiled, as the Shogun Megazord kicked out at the downed Dragonzord once again, sending the powerful zord flying backwards once again; he may not _like_ the idea of hitting a downed opponent, but, right now, they were playing to win; little details like _how_ they did it had to be put aside right now. "Take _that_ , ya big green lump!"

"Yeah; this is _not_ your day, sucker!" Kira added, reaching over to give Conner a brief high five as she looked with a satisfied grin at the downed Dragonzord. "Whatever generation of Rangers you're dealing with, when it comes down to evil zord VS good zord, the good one will _always_ … oh, no."  
  
"What?" Ethan asked, looking anxiously over at Kira. "What's the… oh, _no_."  
  
As the other Rangers glanced in the direction that the Blue and Yellow Rangers were currently looking in, all of them swiftly realised what the problem was; there below them, Elsa was currently standing beside the Green Ranger, and had just taken the Drago Dagger from him…  
  
Then, as the five Rangers watched the sight before them in horror, the Green Ranger raised his sword to the sky, and, as he laughed wickedly, suddenly grew to the same size as the two Zords before him, his sword drawn as he stared at the Shogun Megazord.  
  
"Hah!" he said, as he aimed the sword at the Shogun Megazord, confidence clear in his stance. "You may have held your own against me and my zord separately, but can you hold your own against _both_ of us?"  
  
"Ah, _crap_!" Ethan yelled, as he glanced over at Trent. "Trent, get the Dino Stegozord here, _fast_!"  
  
"Oh yeah, like _that's_ going to do any good!" Trent yelled back, as the Shogun Megazord raised its arm just in time to deflect an attack from the newly-grown Green Ranger. "I barely managed to hold my own against the Dragonzord the last time; I somehow _doubt_ I can hold my own against it when it's got back-up, _especially_ with all the damage it took in the last battle!"  
  
"Wait a minute; you mean… there's _no_ way we can win this?" Ethan asked, looking anxiously over at the others. "You're telling me that Conner and Kira went back in _time_ to get us something that could help us pull this off, and we _still_ can't beat this guy?"


	19. Tommy VS Tommy: Round Two

As he listened to Ethan's brief panic attack off to the side, Conner sighed slightly at his friend's anxiety- even after almost a year in this game, Ethan still tended to freak a bit

"Oh, I wouldn't say there's _no_ way we can beat this guy; Kira and I still have one or two little tricks we could try," the Red Dino Thunder Ranger said, smirking nonchalantly under his helmet as he glanced over at Tommy, an idea occurring to him even as he turned around. "Hey, Doctor O.; think you, Ethan and Trent could keep this thing going if Kira and I weren't here?"

"Well… yeah, I _think_ so…" Tommy said, nodding in confusion at the Red Ranger. "But why _wouldn't_ you be- oh," he said, interrupting himself mid-speech as inspiration struck him. "You mean you'll be using your… _other_ extras from the past?"

"Well, these things are still around after all this time; why not them?" Conner said, patting the control console in front of him before he glanced over at Kira. "Care to join me in a but of ass-kicking, my dear?"

"I would be delighted, kind sir," Kira replied, nodding briefly at him as the two of them stood up.

"Give us a moment; we'll get back to this fight in a second," Conner said, as he nodded briefly over at the clearly-confused Ethan and Trent, before he and Kira literally _leapt_ out of the Zords, landing in front of Elsa at almost the exact same moment as the two of them demorphed back into their civilian clothes.

"Oh, _you_ two came down to issue your surrender?" Elsa asked, taking her mouth away from the Drago Dagger briefly to stare critically at the Red and Yellow Dino Thunder Rangers. "I was expecting to rate at _least_ Doctor Oliver after all we've been through…"

"That might be because we're not _going_ to surrender," Conner retorted, as he and Kira reached behind their backs. "Sorry to contradict you, Elsa, but this is _not_ the time for us to give up; on the contrary…"

As he and Kira pulled out their new morphers, the two of them raised the devices to the sky, lightning briefly leaping down to the coins in the centre of the morphers as the two Rangers prepared to summon their new powers

"It's _morphin_ ' _time_!" Conner yelled, a broad grin on his face as he saw the stunned expression on Elsa's. "Green Ranger Power!"

"Purple Ranger Power!" Kira added from where she stood beside him.

As the rush of transformation faded, Conner and Kira smirked nonchalantly at Elsa's suddenly dumbfounded expression as she looked at the two Rangers before her, dressed in costumes and colours she'd certainly _not_ been expecting to see.

"You think _this_ is cool?" Kira asked, 'pretending' to mistake her expression of shock for an impressed look. "You haven't seen _anything_ yet."

Before Elsa could recover her voice after the first shock, Conner and Kira were already raising their arms to issue the command that would once again shift the dynamics of their current struggle back into their favour.

"We need Ninjazord power, _now_!"

* * *

As he sat in the cockpit of the Shogun Megazord, trying desperately to hold his own in the unfamiliar machine while simultaneously compensating for the sudden departure of Conner and Kira from the zord, Ethan barely even registered what was going on below him as his two friends morphed into their new powers while facing their mentor's past self and their old enemy. Right now, as far as he was concerned, his more immediate priority was to keep this zord going against two _stupidly_ dangerous adversaries and hope he could hold it together long enough for somebody to come up with a better plan.

It was only when he heard a loud screech, followed almost instantly by a loud, cat-like roar, come from off to the side, that he realised just what was going on down on the ground.  
  
"Oh my God…" he whispered, almost half to himself, as he watched the large, proud forms of the Green Puma and the Purple Eagle Ninjazords heading towards them, each one looking about as angry as it was possible for a machine to look as they stared at the Dragonzord and the giant Green Ranger.  
  
"OK," Trent said, nodding slightly as he looked at the two zords that were now heading towards them at full speed, "looks like I was wrong; modern animal zords _can_ be kinda cool."  
  
" _You think you like 'em_ now _, Trent m'boy_?" Conner's voice suddenly broke in over the radio, a slight chuckle in his voice. " _Wait until you see_ this _; Warrior Ninjazord, power up_!"  
  
As soon as Earth's newest Green Ranger had spoken, the two zords were already beginning their transformation sequence. In a manner that was distantly familiar to Tommy and totally new to Ethan and Trent, the Puma folded upwards, its head going down as its front legs spread out to become arms, just as the Eagle's head lowered to its chest, allowing it to neatly slid into the Puma's back. As the wings folded down in front of the Warrior Ninjazord's chest to act as extra armour, the powerful zord assumed a combat stance as it stared grimly at the Green Ranger, who had turned to look at the new arrivals as soon as the transformation sequence had finished.  
  
" _More_ zords for me to destroy, Rangers?" he said, sounding almost amused by the sight that now stood before him. "What shall it _take_ for you to learn that you _cannot_ defeat my Empress and I?"  
  
"Well, let's start with you needing to _kill_ us before we give up, and work our way along from there," Kira retorted, as she and Conner exchanged brief glances with each other, confirming their resolution not to give up the current fight no matter what the odds were against them, before she once again fixed their gaze on the powerful fighter before them. "Now then, let's just get this out of the way, huh?"  
  
Drawing the Sword of Darkness once again, the Green Ranger ran towards the Warrior Ninjazord, apparently unconcerned about the Dragonzord as it struggled with the Shogun Megazord; clearly he felt that the zord would be powerful enough to defeat the other Rangers on its own.  
  
 _Right then_ , Kira mused to herself, as the Warrior Ninjazord parried a blow from the Green Ranger with one arm, moving with an ease that was almost faster than the Dino Thunder Megazord, _time to show this guy that he is_ very _wrong about that particular theory_.  
  
Barely giving the Green Ranger time to process what had just taken place in front of him, Earth's newest Green and Purple Rangers had programmed their zord to lunge forward with a powerful punch to their opponent's chin that sent him staggering. Before he could get his balance back, Conner and Kira had moved the zord into action, lashing out with as rapid a series of punches and kicks as they could manage, each one sending the Green Ranger staggering back ever more.  
  
"Oh yeah!" Conner smiled, giving Kira a brief thumbs-up as the attack continued. "This is _definitely_ going…"  
  
Then his face fell under the helmet. "Aw crap."  
  
"What?" Kira said, looking anxiously over at her boyfriend. "Is something wrong?"  
  
"Just a sec… Doctor O.?" Conner called over the zord's communicator, grateful that the link between the Shogun Megazord and the Warrior Ninjazord still seemed to be working after so long. "Uh… don't suppose you've got any ideas about how to _shrink_ this guy back down to normal size , do ya?"  
  
Kira could have kicked herself for forgetting that particular detail of this situation. Conner was right; even if they defeated the Green Ranger, he'd still be the size of a Megazord when he went down. Assuming they actually managed to gain access to Mesogog's time machine to ensure he arrived back in his proper place in time, how could they send him back to the past in _that_ kind of condition; it couldn't fail to have some kind of impact on history.  
  
" _Well_..." Doctor O.'s voice said from the other end of the radio, " _the last couple of times this kind of thing happened to me- once when I was the Green Ranger and once when I was the Red Zeo Ranger-, I was always turned back to normal after only a few minutes of fighting, but I'd always won the battle by that point and whatever had made me grow was 'taking back' the energy they'd used to make me that size in the first place. From what Trey- the original Gold Zeo Ranger- told us after our fight with the Machine Empire, something about the amount of energy needed to_ make _me that size in the first place means that it's drained off in a relatively short amount of time, but I'm not sure of exactly_ how _long I would have remained that size if it had been allowed to 'wear off' in its own time_ …"  
  
"OK, so not much help there, then," Kira groaned, as she moved the Ninja Warriorzord to avoid another swipe from the Sword of Darkness. "Unless you've got some way of _draining_ that energy off, our options are either lose or keep fighting until this guy runs out of juice and shrinks- even assuming Mesogog's Hydro-Regenerator thing works the same way as the old growth methods did-, and we have no way of knowing how long we need to hold out for?"  
  
"Maybe…" Conner mused, nodding thoughtfully as he studied his morpher, his eyes flicking between it and the oversized morpher that was now buckled to the Green Ranger's belt. "Then again, I _might_ have another idea…"  
  
As Kira glanced over at him in confusion, Conner turned his attention to another set of controls and began to quickly press a series of buttons, chuckling slightly as he did so.  
  
"Uh… Conner?" Kira asked, looking uncertainly at her boyfriend. "What're you doing?"  
  
"Trying to see if there's some way I can set up a link between my power coin and his that'd let us drain off the excess energy that made him that size," Conner explained, as he glanced back at Kira. "It's kinda like the Triassic Shield in reverse, really; I can absorb the energy of your and Ethan's gems through the shield because they're a similar power source, so I'm hoping that, since my coin's of a later 'generation' than this guy's, I'll be able to drain off the energy that made him big through that link between our power sources…"  
  
Noting Kira's apparently stunned expression- the helmet made it hard to tell, but her body language definitely appeared shocked-, Conner shrugged slightly. "Hey, this thing between my shoulders isn't just a good place to wear my helmet; I _can_ have a good idea or two in my time, you know."  
  
Before Kira could reply, Conner had turned his attention back to the control panel before him, tapping buttons rapidly as he studied a read-out on a screen before him. Kira's instinctive knowledge of how to control the zord allowed her to identify the screen as the one that showed how much power the zord was absorbing from the ambient energy around them- after Rita had nearly destroyed the Megazord by creating a solar eclipse, all later zords had been upgraded to allow them to absorb power from sources other than the sun, such as heat or even the kinetic energy created when they were attacked- but she still couldn't entirely see what Conner was doing with it…  
  
Then he placed his new morpher on the panel before him, and smiled as it began to glow with a faint green light.  
  
"I think I've got it," he grinned, as he glanced back at Kira before he turned around and began tapping a few more buttons on the panel before him. "Here goes nothing…"  
  
As he hit the last button, the green light around the morpher suddenly intensified, spreading from the coin in the centre to the panel before it, just before a green ray burst out from the front of the Warrior Ninjazord and struck the Green Ranger. As Conner and Kira watched, their opponent rapidly began to shrink back down to his original size, staring up at them in shock as he receded back towards the ground.  
  
" _NO_!" he roared up at them. " _You cannot DO this to me!_ I AM THE GREEN RANGER!"  
  
"Nope," Conner retorted, a brief smirk on his face as he activated the zord's megaphones to better address his mentor's past self. " _I'm_ the Green Ranger now; you're just an out-of-date loser who is in _way_ over his head."  
  
As the Green Ranger rapidly returned to his normal size, Conner stood up from his seat and glanced over at Kira.  
  
"Think you can handle this thing alone?" he asked her.  
  
"Alone?" Kira repeated, looking in confusion at her new boyfriend. "Where are you going?"  
  
Reaching down to his belt, Conner drew the Drago Dagger and raised it so that it was held up beside his helmet.  
  
"To see whether this thing does what I think it does," he explained, indicating where the Dragonzord was still fighting with the Shogun Megazord; the Dragonzord may have been older, but it was clearly still powerful enough to pose a serious threat to the Megazord. "Wish me luck."  
  
"Always have," Kira replied, giving Conner a brief thumbs-up before he turned to leap out of the Ninja Warriorzord, vanishing from the cockpit almost as soon as Kira had brought her hand down.

* * *

As Conner landed on the ground before the Green Ranger and Elsa- he noted that Elsa was looking at the Green Ranger in shock, clearly not having anticipated the Rangers being able to shrink him, but couldn't allow himself the time to appreciate the sight- he barely even stopped to think about what he was doing. As his two foes turned to look at him in shock, Elsa still clutching the Drago Dagger near her face as the Green Ranger automatically raised the Sword of Darkness, Conner chuckled slightly as he held up his own dagger (Whether it was a future version of the Green Ranger's one or just a replacement, he didn't know and didn't particularly mind).

"You think you're the Green Ranger?" Conner asked, his voice cold as he looked at the younger version of his mentor. "Prove it."  
  
With that brief challenge issued, he raised his dagger to his lips and began to play, allowing himself a slight smile under the helmet as he turned to see the Dragonzord halt in its current attack on the Shogun Megazord, turning to look at him with an expression on its face that could almost be described as puzzled if its face wasn't almost totally immobile.  
  
" _NO_!" the Green Ranger roared, grabbing his own Drago Dagger from Elsa and blowing into it. The Dragonzord seemed about to turn back towards the Shogun Megazord when Conner blew into his own weapon again, turning it away from his friends once more.  
  
"Looks like this sucker prefers the modern model to the out-of-date one," Conner chuckled as he looked back at his 'predecessor' (After all, he _was_ wearing the guy's costume even if the power source had changed). "Care to give up now?"  
  
"NEVER!" the Green Ranger roared, pointing his sword directly at Conner as he charged towards his fellow Green Ranger. Raising the Drago Dagger, Conner quickly parried the attack, following it up with a rapid punch to the Green Ranger's chest and a subsequent rapid spinning kick to the side of the head. Just as Conner was about to continue to press his advantage, however, the Green Ranger lashed out with a rapid stab towards his chest using his own Drago Dagger, which Conner only just managed to deflect to strike his armoured chest rather than his more exposed lower abdomen.  
  
" _Enough_!" a voice roared from off to one side. Conner barely had time to glance in the direction of the voice before a black-clad form crashed into his opponent, sending both of them flying before Conner could even fully register what had just happened.  
  
"Doctor O.?" he said, looking in surprise as the team's mentor once again stood eye-to-eye with his past self. "What-?"  
  
"You take Elsa," the Black Dino Thunder Ranger stated grimly as he looked back at his young protégé. " _I'll_ handle the green throwback here."  
  
With that order given, Doctor O. raised the Brachio Staff once again and charged towards the Green Ranger, raising the Brachio Staff like a sword to deflect the Sword of Darkness wielded by his past self. Conner barely had time to fully register what was taking place before him when the sound of Elsa drawing her weapon penetrated his consciousness. Barely allowing himself any time for thought, he turned around, his dagger raised, and narrowly deflected Elsa's sword, following it up with a rapid punch to her face that sent her staggering backwards, prompting a brief grin from Conner.  
  
"Think you can take me?" the Dino Thunder Red Ranger asked, glaring at the team's long-time foe as he tightened his grip on his sword. "Think again, _bitch_! I'm not _quite_ the guy you've fought in the past!"  
  
With that said, he lashed out towards Elsa with the Dagger once again; she managed to avoid the worst of the attack by diving to the left, but the Dagger's blade still cut through some of the (In Conner's opinion) ridiculously long strands of hair down her back. Screaming in rage, she spun around to strike at him again, forcing Conner to temporarily limit himself to a defensive approach to the fight as he ducked around his enemy's sword; he may have access to more power- he was pretty sure she wasn't actually _stronger_ than him whether he was using his Dino Gem or his Power Coin- but she was definitely the more experienced combatant here.  
  
 _So_ , Conner mused to himself, as he narrowly avoided another of her 'electric blast' attacks by jumping off to one side, _with that in mind, my best bet seems to be getting in close enough that it's raw power that'll be the decisive factor_ …  
  
He didn't even need to think beyond that; ducking underneath Elsa's next blast, he briefly tapped into his superspeed, turned to face her, and charged towards Mesogog's right-hand woman, crashing into her before she could even try and muster up a counter-attack.  
  
"Thought you'd have an easy fight ahead of you, Elsa?" he stated grimly as he stared at her. "Have fun trying to get away _now_."  
  
Before she could properly retaliate, Conner had grabbed her shoulders and rammed his head forward, his helmet striking her directly on the nose. Screaming in rage, Elsa staggered backwards, blood streaming from between her hands as she clutched at her nose, but Conner didn't spare her a moment's pity; after everything she'd done to him and his friends on Mesogog's orders, she deserved nothing less. His eyes narrowing in resolution, Conner lashed out with a powerful kick to her chest, sending her flying backwards before she hit the ground, clearly unconscious.  
  
"Conner?" a voice said from behind him. "You… you OK?"  
  
Glancing around, Conner smiled slightly underneath the helmet as he saw Kira, Ethan and Trent standing behind him, all three of them morphed but otherwise normal; evidently, with Elsa and the Green Ranger occupied, and the Dragonzord having last been given 'orders' to stop fighting, the old zord had stopped attacking them and they'd left their zords to join their allies.  
  
"Yeah," he said, nodding in confirmation at Kira. "I'm… I'm fine."  
  
"Tell me about it; looks like you did a _serious_ number on that psycho," Ethan said, indicating Elsa's comatose form. "You _sure_ the new costume doesn't come with a bit of a shortened temper?"  
  
"She'd done a lot of stuff to us over the last year or so," Conner replied simply, as he turned to face the Blue Ranger. "I had a lot of issues with her I wanted to get out in the open; is that so wrong?"  
  
"Eh; she's still breathing," Kira said, shrugging slightly as she looked briefly at Elsa before turning back to Conner. "You didn't resort to her methods; that's all that really matters in my book."  
  
"Yeah, yeah, Conner took down Elsa; big whoop," Trent groaned, as he pointed at something over Conner's shoulder. "Shouldn't we be helping Doctor O. take care of… well, the _other_ him?"  
  
Glancing over in the direction of his mentor, Conner's eyes widened in shock under his helmet as he witnessed the Green and Black Rangers duelling in front of him, the Green Ranger's sword almost effortlessly meeting his black-clad opponent's Brachio Staff regardless of what he attempted.  
  
Conversely, of course, the Black Ranger was easily able to parry any blow the Green Ranger attempted to land, but the fight was clearly still too evenly matched for there to be any clear victor. Their attention drawn back to the fight by Trent's words, the Dino Thunder Rangers began to move forward to help their mentor, but as soon as they took their first steps towards the combatants Doctor O. glared up in his direction, his message clear without him even needing to say a word.  
  
 _He's mine_.  
  
If things looked like they would go seriously bad for Doctor O., the other Rangers would dive in to help him, but for the moment he wanted to handle this on his own and put at least some of his demons to rest.

* * *

"FOOL!" the Green Ranger roared, lashing down with the Sword in a blow that came dangerously close to Tommy's head if his black-clad older self hadn't managed to duck in time. "Why do you continue fighting? You only delay the inevitable! I have defeated the chosen Rangers of Zordon himself!"

"Zordon looks for different strengths in _his_ Rangers than I do, my friend," Tommy retorted, glaring resolvedly at his opponent as he parried the blows with his Brachio Staff, already calculating the best way to deliver his planned _coup de grace_. So far the fight appeared too even for either of them to gain a definite advantage- he was the stronger of the two, but the Green Ranger was faster, and his reflexes were still at their peak rather than slowed as Tommy's were by this point in his life-, but Tommy had a plan that would almost certainly allow him to gain the winning edge.  
  
The only question was, could he dare to risk it? If his younger self remembered anything about what he was planning to do, things could be altered to an _unimaginable_ degree…  
  
"HAH!" the Green Ranger roared, kicking out at Tommy's chest while his future self was lost in thought, sending him staggering back once again. "Whatever 'strengths' your creator looks for in his Rangers, it clearly is not enough to make a difference! My Empress _will_ destroy you and your pathetic team, just as she and I are about to eliminate Zordon's Rangers-!"  
  
"Oh, shut _UP_!" Tommy roared, fighting past his temporary feeling of breathlessness to launch his own kick, this one striking the Green Ranger in the head. "You're not _going_ to destroy Zordon's Rangers, you IDIOT! You're going to lose, the spell is going to be broken, and you're going to end up fighting _with_ them rather than against them!"  
  
" _LIAR_!" the Green Ranger roared, launching another flurry of attacks with his sword and his dagger, the Brachio Staff only just proving adequate to deflect the blows he launched towards his adversary. "I would _never_ betray my Empress!"  
  
"Oh, _really_?" Tommy retorted, as a blow from the Sword came worryingly close to cutting his right arm. He was rapidly reaching the point where he would be unable to keep up this fight much longer; the Green Ranger's youthful vitality provided his younger self with superior endurance to him in the present, particularly given that he hadn't done much in the way of martial arts while he was in college.  
  
It was time to play his final card.  
  
"If you're so confident you _wouldn't_ betray Rita," Tommy stated grimly as he launched another kick at his other self's chest before stepping back, increasing the distance between them as the Green Ranger gasped for air, "then how do you explain _this_?"  
  
With that, he reached up to his head, unclipped his helmet, and removed the black object from his face.  
  
Even with his younger self's face concealed by his own helmet, Tommy knew that the other him would have been almost shocked senseless by this latest revelation.  
  
"No…" the Green Ranger finally said after a few moments' pause, during which he and Tommy had continued to stare silently at each other as the rest of the Dino Thunder Rangers watched, his voice still weak from the loss of breath Tommy's last kick had caused. "It's not… it _can't_ be…"  
  
"It is," Tommy stated simply. "I'm you. I'm not a clone, not a look-alike, not an alternate version; I'm just… _you_."  
  
"NO!" the Green Ranger roared, lunging towards his future self, both weapons spread out as though he was about to plunge them both into his adversary.  
  
On any other occasion, it might have worked.  
  
With his mind clouded over by anger, and with him still not having regained his breath after Tommy's kick, the Green Ranger was just a fraction too slow. Before he could fully process what his counterpart was going to do, the Green Ranger's head had suddenly made contact with the thick end of the Brachio Staff, followed by a series of rapid punches and kicks to his head and torso that sent him flying back into the ground and unconsciousness before he could even fully process the pain from the first attack.  
  
From where they'd been standing to watch the fight, the rest of the Dino Thunder Rangers winced.  
  
" _Damn_ …" Ethan said, as he looked from the Green Ranger back to their team's mentor. "You really did a number on that guy, didn't you?"  
  
"You sure you should have done _that_ much damage?" Kira asked, looking uncertainly between Doctor O. and his younger self. "I mean, I get that you've got a lot of issues to deal with regarding your time as… well, _him_ … but couldn't you have done something permanent to him?"  
  
"Unlikely," Tommy replied, shaking his head as he studied his past self. "Ranger healing should take care of anything major I did in a couple of hours; the most serious injury anyone took since becoming a Ranger to my knowledge was when Rocky- the second Red Ranger and Blue Zeo Ranger- injured his back in a martial arts contest, and that was only that bad because he wasn't morphed at the time."  
  
"Ah," Conner said, nodding in understanding as he looked inquiringly over at his mentor. "So… what do we do now?"  
  
As they stared down at the two unconscious bodies before them, the five Dino Thunder Rangers looked up at each other for a moment before they both nodded in silent resolution.  
  
Their next move was clear.  
  
The Green Ranger may have been defeated, but, if they were going to walk away from this whole situation with everything the way it should be…  
  
They had to send him back to the past, erasing his memories so that he'd never remember this confrontation until he experienced it from the other side.  
  
And to do that, they needed to use the time machine that Mesogog had used to bring him into the future in the first place.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If anyone's wondering why they can't just send the Green Ranger back in time the same way Zordon and the other Rangers sent Conner and Kira back, take into account that Conner and Kira needed an identical power source to the other Rangers to allow them to 'enhance' the temporal energy in their system. The Green Ranger doesn't have the same power source as half the team, and they're _definitely_ not going to risk giving him one of their Dino Gems just to send him back to the past; if nothing else, what if he regains consciousness before they can erase his memory and steals the gem for himself?


	20. Rangers VS Mesogog: The Final Round

A short while later, the five Dino Thunder Rangers were gathered in front of an invisiportal, Conner, Kira and Ethan sitting on their Raptor Cycles while Tommy and Trent sat on their Dino ATVs, the Green Ranger's unconscious form draped over the black ATV while Elsa was tied to the white ATV.

"OK then, everyone's clear on what we're doing?" Tommy asked, as he glanced over at the other four Rangers; Conner and Kira had returned to their Dino Thunder costumes for this mission, although their new morphers were still attached to their belts in case they needed the extra power. "The rules are simple; get in, get to Mesogog's machine, send the other me back to the past, and get out of there as fast as possible. Taking out Mesogog is _not_ the main concern here; we have to make sure that the timeline isn't affected by Mesogog's actions here any more than it already has been. Got that?"

"Check," Conner said, nodding in confirmation at his mentor before he jerked a thumb at Elsa. "Just remind me again; whyare we taking her _back_ to her boss?"

"I'm not going to kill her when she can't fight back, Conner," Tommy stated, as he turned back to look at the Red Ranger. "Killing her in battle would be one thing; killing her like this isn't the Ranger thing to do."

"Y'know, there are times when it really _sucks_ to be the good guy…" Ethan sighed, as he glanced over at the unconscious cyborg over the back of Trent's ATV before he turned back to look ahead of himself. "Well, let's get it over with."

"Agreed," Tommy said, as he turned around to look at where the portal would open in front of them. "Let's do it."

With that, all five Rangers activated their vehicle's engines, stared grimly ahead of themselves, and charged towards the portal as fast as they could, their eyes narrowed behind their helmets. As they approached the 'hole' in the air in front of them, there was a brief swirl of green energy, lightning seemed to crackle around them…

* * *

Then, with no more of a pause than the time it would take to draw breath, the five Rangers found themselves inside a corridor of Mesogog's island fortress, a small army of tyrannadrones standing in front of them. Evidently, Mesogog had guessed that the Rangers would be coming to his fortress to send the Green Ranger back where he came from and was determined to catch them before they could get there.

"Ah well," Conner sighed, as he glanced over at Kira and his teammates, "Since they're here, what do you say we just clean up the trash and _then_ send our green friend back where he came from?"  
  
"Oh yeah," Kira smiled under her helmet, accompanied by confirming nods from Ethan, Trent and Tommy.  
  
As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she and Conner opened fire on the tyrannadrones before them with the cycle's weapons, followed closely by the other Rangers. In a matter of moments, the tyrannadrones before them had been mown down in a hail of blaster fire, leaving the corridor in front of them momentarily clear of any adversaries.  
  
"Right then," Tommy said, smiling slightly under his helmet as he looked over at his teammates. "Let's go."  
  
With that said, the five Rangers charged down the corridors, the three more manoeuvrable Raptor Cycles leading the assault as the bulkier ATVs followed behind their comrades, each one firing their lasers at any Tyrannodrones between them and their goal. Although a few of the drones managed to get close to them, none of them managed to do any damage. Anything that managed to evade the laser fire was quickly cut down by either the Thundermax Sabers or the Brachio Staff; evidently the Tyrannodrones weren't able to tell the difference between Trent and his clone, judging by their attempts to avoid actually firing at the White Ranger.  
  
In a matter of moments- with delays only caused by the usual handicaps of having to work their way around tight corners with large vehicles- the five Rangers found themselves in Mesogog's main laboratory, fortunately with Mesogog himself currently absent from the facility.  
  
"OK; we're here," Conner said, as he glanced over at the Black Ranger. "Don't suppose you've got any ideas what Mesogog might have made his time machine look like?"  
  
"Well…" Tommy commented, as he stepped off the ATV and studied a nearby console, a large viewscreen on the front of the machine currently frozen on a picture of a tall building with the now-familiar form of the Dragonzord behind it. "Judging by the picture- which, if memory serves, shows me confronting the others _just_ before Zordon returned and resurrected their zords-, I'd say that's the machine we're looking for right now."  
  
"Ok then; any ideas how we work this thing?" Ethan asked, jerking his thumb towards the still-unconscious Green Ranger slumped over the black ATV. "I mean, I get that we still have the amnesia thing to track down after that, but I'd still like to know we can send him home first-"  
  
"Unfortunately for you, that will not be an issue for much longer," a voice said from off to the side, prompting all the Rangers to freeze in shock. "I shall send the Green Ranger back myself… _after_ I have killed you all."  
  
"Mesogog?" Conner said, turning to look at their current adversary before he winced in an overly dramatic manner. "Geez, and I'd hoped my memory was exaggerating; you really _are_ one ugly son of a bitch…"  
  
"Look, we don't want any trouble," Trent interrupted, stepping forward to look resolutely at Mesogog, his weapon raised in a manner that made it clear that he was prepared to use it even if he didn't want to make it his first option. "Conner and Kira have already taken out Zeltrax and my clone, and you've probably seen that Conner can control the Dragonzord now. Why don't you just let us send the Green Ranger back and leave it at that? You've got nothing to gain by fighting us-"  
  
"I gain your deaths, Trent Fernandez; that is enough for me right now," Mesogog growled at the White Ranger, before he allowed himself a slight smirk and picked up a syringe filled with a green-coloured liquid from a nearby shelf. "However, should you wish the memory-erasing formula I created, here it is…"  
  
Still smirking, he slipped the syringe into his pocket and spread his arms in preparation for the upcoming fight, looking nonchalantly at the Rangers before him. "All you need to do is take it from me, inject the Green Ranger with it in the main artery in his neck, and you can send him back to his time by merely pressing the largest button on the machine before you; it serves as a 'recall' switch for the machine, if you will. The Green Ranger shall automatically wake up as soon as he arrives in the past, and, as far as he is concerned, unless you left him any… interesting… injuries in the time between than and now, it shall be as though he was never away from that time in the first place."  
  
"And what guarantee do we have that you haven't just poisoned that thing?" Ethan retorted, glaring at the dinosaur-like villain. "We inject the Green Ranger with that, we could just be killing Doctor O.-"  
  
"And undoing the research he did with Anton Mercer and the accident that actually _created_ Mesogog?" Conner pointed out, looking critically at his blue-clad teammate. "I doubt even Mesogog'sstupid enough to risk something like _that_ happening; taking Doctor O. out of action before he could even really get started may be a good move as far as fighting us goes, but it's a dumb thing to do when you take into account where he came from in the first place."  
  
"Precisely," Mesogog replied, before his eyes narrowed as he glared at the Rangers. "Of course, although the serum may be beneficial to your purpose, you shall still need to defeat me _before_ I hand it over to you, and that is _not_ going to happen."  
  
"Oh, really?" Kira retorted, as the five Dino Thunder Rangers (Trent with a slight reluctance that nobody else really registered) drew their weapons, their gazes resolutely fixed on their opponent. "Why don't you try and prove that?"  
  
Instantly, the five Rangers charged towards Mesogog, the powerful dinosaur-like being parrying the blows almost as soon as they'd been launched in the first place. Conner and Tommy managed to do the most damage, their longer weapons allowing them to land more precise blows without Mesogog managing to efficiently deflect them, but he was still clearly too skilled to make it easy for them to take him out.  
  
Using the strength that had served him well whenever he'd been forced into combat in the past, Mesogog casually threw Ethan off to one side, punched Trent in the gut underneath his armour, launched a powerful kick at Kira's head, and subsequently grabbed at the Brachio and Tyranno Staffs, glaring with a satisfied smirk at his two enemies.  
  
"You cannot _hope_ to defeat me," he said, a grim smirk of satisfaction on his face as he stared at the Red and Black Dino Thunder Rangers as they strained against him, his gaze focusing on the Black Ranger. "I shall kill your entire team, and then I shall revive and defeat your past self before sending him back, his memory gone, just so I can have the satisfaction of having defeated you _twice_. You _cannot_ win, Rangers; why do you not accept that?"  
  
"We're stubborn," Doctor O. stated grimly as he strained against his adversary. " _Deal_ with it."  
  
"Oh, I intend to," Mesogog stated, a satisfied gleam in his eyes as he glanced at something over their shoulders. Conner vaguely registered the sound of a door opening behind them when suddenly Doctor O. was yanked backwards by a new mass of Tyrannadrones. Conner barely even had time to register that the rest of the Dino Thunder Rangers were back on their feet and tackling the new arrivals- at least Doctor O. wouldn't have to fight them himself- before he found his attention forced back to Mesogog, the dinosaur-like monstrosity glaring arrogantly at him.  
  
"So, Red Ranger," he chuckled, flexing his fingers as he clasped the Tyranno Staff in both hands, "do you still wish to battle me _now_ , or will you give up now that you are fighting me alone?"  
  
As he locked eyes with Mesogog, Conner smiled slightly as he studied his enemy, a possible strategy occuring to him as he strained against his adversary.  
  
The Rangers might be outnumbered at the moment, but, if he'd interpreted what Ninjor had told him and Kira in the past correctly, they might not be overpowered yet.  
  
All he needed to do was get away from this ugly son of a bitch, let Kira know what he was planning, and from there…  
  
"Y'know, is this _really_ the most sensible thing to do in this kind of situation?" Conner asked, looking almost teasingly at Mesogog under his helmet despite the strain of holding the Tyranno Staff steady against Mesogog's sheer strength. "I mean, you go on about what you'll do to us, take us on single-handedly, _and_ threaten to beat up a past version of the greatest Ranger ever just to do it twice, with us  
  
"Your point being?" Mesogog asked, glaring at the Red Ranger, his contempt for his presumably weak adversary clear in his stance.  
  
"My _point_ …" Conner growled, flexing his muscles as he grasped his staff, "is that if you _were_ as great as you think you are… you'd have realised… that you _don't_ give the other guy… a reason to _keep_ fighting… when you're _winning_!"  
  
With that, Conner instantly released his Tyranno Staff, following it up with a rapid kick to Mesogog's chest that sent the team's foe staggering backwards, Mesogog having had no real time to reach to the sudden shift in Conner's attack strategy.  
  
"Because if there's one thing that'll turn the tide," Conner chuckled, grabbing the Tyranno Staff back from Mesogog before their foe could regain his grip on it after his last attack, "it's giving the other guy a reason to keep fighting."  
  
With that said, the Red Ranger turned around and dived into the mass of Tyrannadrones, lashing out with his staff at the surrounding monsters as he fought his way through to where his yellow-clad girlfriend was currently struggling to hold her own against the new arm. To her credit, she didn't appear to be willing to allow a little thing like getting kicked in the head stop her from holding her own, but the sheer numbers surrounding her made it difficult for her to effectively hold her own against them.  
  
"Need a hand?" Conner asked, as he dived into the heart of the struggle, quickly taking up a back-to-back position with his girlfriend as he struck out at the surrounding attackers.  
  
"You _know_ it, Con!" Kira said, laughing slightly as she lashed out at her attackers with her Ptera Grips. "Not _quite_ going the way we planned, is it?"  
  
"Not at the _moment_ , no," Conner replied, chuckling slightly as he struck a couple of drones on the head before risking a quick glance back at Kira. "However, it occurs to me that, if we try that thing Ninjor hinted we could do, we _might_ be able to turn the tide of this little struggle in our favour."  
  
"Wha- oh, you mean that stuff about our powers 'combining' before he sent us back to the others, right?" Kira asked, looking at Conner in a manner that suggested to him that she was smiling underneath her helmet. "You have a plan to get us to the big dude so we can try it out, huh?"  
  
"Just this," Conner said grimly, as he turned around to look in the direction where Mesogog's head was just visible over the Tyrannadrones around them. "On my word, grab my neck and hold on."  
  
"Huh?" Kira said, looking at Conner in confusion. "What do you mean, grab your-"  
  
" _Do it_!" the Red Ranger yelled, witnessing a momentary gap in the 'army' before him. As soon as he felt Kira's arms around his neck, he used the Tyranno Staff to knock down the Tyrannadrones immediately in front of him, following it up with a rapid charge forward, hitting the ground with the end of the staff, and literally vaulting over the surrounding Tyrannadrones, landing directly in front of Mesogog.  
  
"You think I'm weak, Mesogog?" Conner asked, as he and Kira reached behind their backs to grab at their new morphers (Which, they were both relieved to note, _had_ appeared on the backs of their uniforms when they needed them). "Let's see if you still feel like that after _this_!"  
  
Pulling out their morphers, Conner and Kira barely had time to take in Mesogog's stunned expression- either he hadn't been paying attention to the Green Ranger's defeat or he hadn't expected them to be capable of something like that- before they raised their morphers to the sky, calling on their new powers once again.  
  
"It's _morphin' time_!" Conner yelled, grinning as he felt the energy spread through his body once again. "Green Ranger Power!"  
  
"Purple Ranger Power!" Kira added.  
  
As soon as the words were out of their mouths. Green and purple energy crackled over their bodies, red and yellow energy rapidly joining together as the glow intensified, until it finally burst out, forming a temporarily blinding light that drew the attention of all the combatants as it faded.  
  
When Conner and Kira's new costumes were revealed, it was clear that whatever process Ninjor had used to combine their powers had done a remarkably efficient job of it. Conner's new outfit was the more elaborate of the two, combining elements of both his Green Ranger costume and his Triassic Ranger outfit; Kira's costume was simply her Yellow Dino Thunder costume, possessing the wings of her Super Dino Mode, and the gloves, boots and helmet of her Purple Ranger costume.  
  
Conner, on the other hand, possessed the Green Ranger's 'shield' chest-armour, the top part of his costume also being green, but his helmet, gloves and lower body were all clad in the traditional armour of the Triassic Battleizer Ranger armour, and the Battleizer's two large weapons were visible on his back, ready to spring up and activate at a moment's notice.  
  
"Whoa…" Ethan said, staring wide-eyed at his friends' new costumes, before he glanced over at the Black Ranger. "Did they use that little trick in the past, Doctor O.?"  
  
"No, that's new," the Black Ranger replied, staring approvingly at the two Rangers as he smiled casually under his helmet. "But, given our current situation, I'm not exactly complaining about having something new on our team."  
  
"Glad to hear it, Doctor O.," Conner said, glancing over at his mentor before he turned back to glare at Mesogog. "So, big guy, care to rethink your little rant earlier?"  
  
"A few powers more or less make no difference to me, Red Ranger," Mesogog hissed, raising one hand to flex his claws as he glared at his opponent. "I shall still destroy you, and combine your _new_ powers with the Dino Gems to provide my machines with even greater power than they would have possessed before."

* * *

"Oh, _really_?" Ethan said, glancing over at one of the machines off to one side with a slight smile. "You want power, huh? Then how about we try _this_?"

Before Mesogog or the other Rangers had fully realised what was happening, Ethan had grabbed Elsa's body from the ATV, thrust it into the machine, and turned it on as he grinned over at the incredulous Mesogog.  
  
"Y'see," the Blue Ranger explained, chuckling slightly at the increasingly bemused-looking Mesogog, "if memory serves, this thing was what you were going to use to drain Doctor O.'s life energy when we first came here, and, since you _must_ have given Elsa some power to make her what she is today… I have to wonder what would happen if I gave you _back_ that power?"  
  
Before any of the Rangers, or even Mesogog, could voice their thoughts on his plan, Ethan had slammed his hand against the control console, watching with a slightly satisfied smile as Elsa's body twitch as the extra power left her body. Ethan was pretty confident he knew what he was doing, of course- he wasn't going to risk _killing_ Elsa no matter what she'd done to them in the past-, but at the same time, he wasn't denying that it was kind of pleasant to see her in pain after all the trouble she'd caused them since they first became Rangers…  
  
As Elsa slumped to the ground, her hair no long the close-cropped appearance it had been throughout their time as adversaries- indeed, her entire _body_ seemed less fine-tuned than it had ever been in the last months-, and Ethan seized his chance. Spinning the device around before it could absorb any more life energy from Elsa, Ethan switched the device into reverse, watching as Mesogog absorbed the energy that he'd just taken back from Elsa.  
  
Of course, Ethan knew that he could have absorbed the life energy from Mesogog, but he couldn't be sure that Mesogog hadn't made himself immune to his own weapons, or what they'd do with the life energy once they'd actually drained it from the guy; he was pretty sure he had an idea of how to operate this system in the first place, but there was a difference between turning it on and off and working out the more elaborate details of this whole system. For the moment, this plan was the best thing he could come up with; hit Mesogog with Elsa's old power and hope it'd knock him off-balance rather than just power him up…  
  
"GARGH!" Mesogog roared as the beam struck him, his face twisting in a grimace of what could only be called pain as the energy from the machine poured into him.  
  
Ethan couldn't help but grin slightly; it would appear that he'd been right about his theory. Now, all he neded to do was keep feeding the power into this asshole, making sure the guy was kept off-balance until the others could get to him…  
  
"NO!" Trent suddenly yelled, leaping forward to hit the button that would turn the machine off, leaving Mesogog dazed but otherwise clearly alive.  
  
"What the _Hell_?" Conner yelled, zipping over at dino-power-level speed to pin the White Ranger to the wall. "What is your _problem_ ; we were just about to _beat_ this bastard!"  
  
"You _can't_ kill him!" Trent retorted, looking decidedly panicked as Kira and Ethan joined Conner in glaring at him; Doctor O. was keeping an eye on Mesogog and the Green Ranger in case either of them tried to attack his team whiel they were occupied.  
  
"Oh, and why _not_ , pray?" Kira said, glaring at Trent under her helmet. "What could _possibly_ make you, a 'former' evil Power Ranger, want to _protect_ Mesogog-?"  
  
" _He's my father_!" Trent yelled.  
  
For a moment, the silence was so complete that you could have heard a pin drop; not even the weakened Mesogog made a sound.  
  
" _What_?" Conner roared, his grip on Trent's neck tightening as he glared at the White Ranger. "You mean that sucker's _Mercer_ and you never _bothered_ to tell us this _before_?"  
  
"He can't _control_ it!" Trent protested as he stared at his team's leader. "It's like Jekyll and Hyde; they both know what the other does, but can't _influence_ the other guy when it's not their body! He's been trying to find a cure-"  
  
" _Look_ ," Doctor O. said, stepping between the two Rangers, looking authoritatively between the two of them, "right now we have a more important priority right now; getting that syringe off Mesogog and getting… me… back to the past; we can deal with this issue later. It changes nothing as far as our plan goes; our priority is still to get me back to the past and then get out of here, understood?"  
  
Then he turned to look resolutely at Trent, clearly wanting to ensure the White Ranger understood what he was about to say. "But, if it comes down to a choice between Mercer and the timeline… you know that we _have_ to choose history."  
  
For a moment, Trent just stared back at the Black Dino Thunder Ranger, until, finally, he nodded in acceptance.

* * *

"Right then," Conner said, releasing his grip on Trent as he and the other Rangers turned around to glare at Mesogog. "I think it's time to see what we can do."

With Mesogog still clearly disorientated from Ethan's initial attack, the three original Dino Thunder Rangers seized their chance, charging towards the powerful dinosaur-like monster. Before he could strike back, Conner and Kira had grabbed him by the arms and pinned him to the wall behind him, holding them there even as his eyes became more focused.  
  
"Ethan, _quick_!" Conner yelled over at the Blue Ranger, indicating the pocket where Mesogog had earlier placed the syringe. "Get that thing _out of there_!"  
  
"Got it!" Ethan replied. Darting forward, he stuck his hand into Mesogog's pocket, pulled out the syringe- still intact despite all the damage it had taken up to this point- and, hurrying back over to the still-unconscious Green Ranger, stuck it into the side of his neck and pressed down on the injector, smiling slightly as the green liquid was compressed down through the needle directly into the Green Ranger's bloodstream.  
  
" _Got it_!" Ethan grinned, giving his two teammates a quick thumbs-up before he glanced back at Trent and Doctor O. "One of you, _hit that button_!"  
  
The Blue Ranger needn't have bothered, however; Doctor O.'s hand ws already reaching over to slam down on the button that Mesogog had already identified as the one that would send the Green Ranger back to the past. There was a momentary flash of white light from the centre of the room, and then the Green Ranger had vanished, reappearing on the screen before them as though he'd always been standing on the roof facing the other Rangers.  
  
"NO!" Mesogog roared, as the screen powered down. "You _cannot_ have defeated me _again_!"  
  
"What, did you… still think that… he'd kick our assess… _after_ we'd knocked him out?" Conner grunted, as he strained desperately against their powerful adversary. "You really _are_ … as dumb… as you look."  
  
With that said, Conner lashed out at Mesogog's neck with a powerful karate-chop, causing their opponent to gasp, ceasing his attempts to escape from his foes' grasp as he tried to clutch at his suddenly-aching throat.  
  
" _Get him_!" Conner roared, as he and Kira drew their swords- now apparently a combination of Blade Blasters and Thundermax Sabres, from what they could see- and slashed at Mesogog, sending him staggering once again as he clutched at his aching throat.  
  
As they continued to slash away at him, a part of their minds vaguely registered Ethan, Trent and Doctor O. joining them in the assault, Trent half-heartedly launching some energy arrows- he clearly didn't really want to injure his father no matter what he'd done- while Ethan deflected some blows with his shield and Doctor O. launched the occasional blow with his Tyranno Staff. However, no matter what their allies did, it was almost as though none of their teammates were even there any more; with the power of the Dino Gems combined with their new Power Coins, Conner and Kira lashed out at Mesogog as though he wasn't even worth the effort, easily parrying his attacks as he attack them as though he was moving at a snail's pace.  
  
Admittedly, they were still having trouble actually _hitting_ him as he struck back, but it was still managing to hold their own against the sucker even if they couldn't actually _hurt_ him.  
  
"You _cannot_ defeat me!" Mesogog roared in frustration as he launched a punch at Conner that the Red/Green Ranger only barely managed to avoid. "We ruled this world for centuries… I will _not_ allow mere humans to drive my race to extinction!"  
  
"Newsflash, Mesogog; your race was _already_ extinct!" Conner yelled, as he launched a kick at Mesogog's chest, briefly sending their foe staggering backwards. "Can't you just accept the _facts_ and move on from it?"  
  
"Conner _does_ have a point, Mesogog; your 'race' _had_ their time, and you only came back in the end because of some screwy _accident_ ," Kira retorted, smirking slightly as she kicked out at their opponent, striking him on the shoulder with a powerful strike. "Doesn't that _kind_ of demonstrate that you're out of date?"  
  
" _Never_!" Mesogog roared, charging at them once again, sending Ethan and Trent flying off to the side; Conner, Kira and Doctor O. were only just able to maintain their balance against his latest assault.  
  
"This isn't working!" Doctor O. yelled, as Mesogog grabbed at his Brachio Staff, nearly hurling the Black Ranger off to the side. "We need a new strategy if we're going to get out of here!"  
  
 _Shit_ , Conner thought, as he watched his mentor struggle with their greatest adversary, desperately going over what they had available to them so far. As much as he may not have liked Anton Mercer, he wasn't _exactly_ willing to kill the guy for something he couldn't control; he may not like Trent, but he was pretty sure that, if Mercer _had_ been able to control Mesogog, Trent wouldn't have been as willing to let the guy walk around…  
  
Then it occurred to him.  
  
There _might_ be a way to deal with that particular problem.  
  
"Hey, Doctor O.?" he said, looking over at his mentor. "Can you channel the power of the coins like we can channel the Gems?"  
  
"Well… maybe…" Doctor O. grunted as he strained against Mesogog. "But… _why_?"  
  
"Just trust me on this; I _think_ I have a plan," Conner said, as he glanced over at the only other person left in the room with a Power Coin. "Kira, on my mark, channel all the power in the coins at Mesogog; focus on driving _him_ out while leaving Mercer intact, OK?"  
  
"What?" Kira said, looking in confusion at the Red Ranger. "Are you _sure_ that'll work?"  
  
"Maybe not," Conner said, shaking his head "But, unless we want to _definitely_ kill Mercer, that's the only thing I can think of that might take this guy out."  
  
For a moment, Kira looked uncertainly between her boyfriend and their mentor, still desperately struggling against Mesogog despite the monster's clearly-increasing strength; evidently the extra power Mesogog had absorbed thanks to Ethan's 'strategy' was becoming more efficiently incorporated into his body.  
  
Conner was right; it wasn't a perfect strategy, but, if they didn't want to risk killing a technically innocent man- albeit a bit of a jerk- when they took Mesogog down as well, it was their only chance.  
  
"OK then," she said, as she and Conner reached down to their belts to place a hand on their Power Coins. "Here goes nothing, huh?"  
  
"Correction," Conner said, chuckling slightly as he pulled out his Power Coin. "Here goes _something_. We're Rangers, Kira; 'impossible' isn't in our vocabulary."  
  
"Right then," Kira said, as she and Conner raised their coins to aim them at Mesogog. "Let's _do_ this."  
  
"Hey, Mesogog!" Conner yelled, grinning slightly as the dinosaur-like monster turned to look in their direction. "You think you're powerful? Try _this_!"  
  
With that said, the two Rangers raised their power coins, channeling their new powers through their new power sources as they focused them on their foe, Doctor O. only just getting out of the way as the powerful beams of energy struck Mesogog.  
  
" _Hah_!" Mesogog roared, as he glared at the two Rangers, spreading his arms as he turned to face them. "You believe that _this_ shall stop me? Hit me with all the energy you wish; I shall simply _grow_! You _cannot_ vanquish me!"  
  
"Oh, _really_?" Conner retorted, tapping his coin slightly as he tightened his grip on it, praying that he'd understood enough about how these new powers worked as he focused his energy through the coin at Mesogog. "You think you can handle this kind of power? See if you can deal with a _direct link to the Morphing Grid_!"  
  
Clasping his hands around the coin, feeling the comforting presence of Kira off to his side, Conner focused all his power through the coin he held before him, feeling the link between it and the Dino Gem still clasped to his wrist as he increased his concentration, refusing to allow himself even a moment's weakness.  
  
"NO!" Trent yelled, desperately running towards Conner and Kira, only to be grabbed by Ethan and Doctor O. before he could reach them.  
  
"Look, just _trust us_!" Kira yelled over at her not-quite-ex- there'd been some potential there, but it had never been explored and Kira had no desire to try now that she was with Conner- as she and the Red/Green Ranger continued to pour power into Mesogog. "We know what we're doing!"  
  
As Kira turned back to the matter before them, however, she focused her mind once again on their planned objective and prayed that she was telling the truth when she said that.  
  
Right now, she and Conner had to stay focused on their objective- practically _burn_ Mesogog out of Mercer like a massive virus while leaving Mercer himself intact-, or they'd most likely end up killing _both_ personalities by accident.  
  
As the two of them continued to concentrate their power on Mesogog, both Conner and Kira only dimly registered that they were no longer _just_ drawing on their own powers; with both their power sources combined into one, each one accessing a different level of strength, Conner and Kira were tapping into the primal energies of the Morphing Grid itself. On their own, the coins or the gems might have been drained from the sheer force of the power required, but together, each could funnel in enough power from the grid to some serious damage to the target without one or the other of them burning out from the sheer scale of the power being transferred through them. As they watched the sight before them, Mesogog began to scream in agony as the energy continued to funnel into him, his body struggling to adapt with the energy that he was taking in even as the Rangers' newly-opened link to the grid continued to divert energy from the Gems and the Coins into Mesogog.  
  
"NO!" Mesogog roared, reaching out with one clawed hand in what could almost have been a plea for mercy. "Stop… it's too much… STOP!"  
  
"Not a _chance_ , asshole!" Conner roared, his grip on the coin tightening even more, the metal digging into his fingers as his wrist burned with the power of the Gem. "You're _done_!"  
  
After one last scream of rage and agony that tore throughout the base, Mesogog's body suddenly flew apart, leaving only the slightly smaller, dazed form of Anton Mercer, collapsed on the ground and gasping for breath as the last vestiges of the power he'd just absorbed faded from his body.

* * *

"What the…?" Trent said, looking in confusion at Mercer and the two Rangers standing before him. "How… how…?"

"Oh, we just used our powers to 'burn' Mesogog away from Mercer while leaving Mercer himself intact," Kira explained as she looked back at the White Ranger before she and Conner smiled over at each other. "The coins and the gems let us sync up with the Morphing Grid, channel its power through both without damaging either, and…"  
  
She shrugged and indicated over her shoulder. "Well, there's the result."  
  
"Yes…" Mercer gasped as he staggered to his feet with Trent's aid, smiling slightly at the Rangers before him before he turned to look at Conner and Kira. "Thank you… for what you did there."  
  
Conner shrugged. "Hey, no worries," he said casually. "We're Rangers; saving people is kind of what we do really."  
  
"Still… thank you," Mercer said, shaking his head slightly before he turned to look directly at Doctor O. "Tommy… I can _never_ make up… for what I did to you, but…"  
  
The Black Ranger shook his head.  
  
"No worries; it's over now," he said reassuringly. "All that matters now is that we end this here and leave it at that."  
  
"Simple enough," Mercer said, indicating a few of the consoles around the room. "There's no _actual_ … self-destruct system, but it's… simple enough to overload the place by… activating the right controls; too many systems… go online at once and the entire place… pretty much overloads."  
  
"Oh, that simple, mmm?" Ethan said, smiling slightly under his helmet as he glanced around at his surroundings. "OK then, let's get down to business; I'll take this console, Conner takes that one, Kira that one-"  
  
"Y'know what?" Conner sighed, drawing his weapons once again and aiming them at a large machine off to one side, "why don't we just blow the big one up and let things run their course from there?"  
  
Mercer shrugged.  
  
" _That_ … could work too," he admitted, smiling slightly sheepishly over at the other Rangers. "Sorry; Mesogog tended… not to consider the possibility… that somebody would start using gunfire in his base… so that idea didn't immediately hit me."  
  
"Fair enough," Conner said, nodding in understanding at their adversary before he indicated the ATVs and Raptor Cycles. "OK then, everyone get on those things, fire weapons, and then move like there's no tomorrow for the nearest Invisiportal, got me?"  
  
"Oh yeah," Ethan said, giving Conner the thumbs-up as he slung his leg over his own Raptor Cycle, followed by the other Rangers, Mercer sitting on the back of the Black ATV as they aimed their weapons at the consoles.  
  
"Ready?" Conner asked, staring grimly at the sight before them. "Aim… _fire_!"  
  
With that, the lasers leapt from the Cycles and the ATVs, striking multiple consoles and triggering an even greater amount of explosions all around the laboratory. Even as the Rangers turned around to charge towards the nearest Invisiportal, the fires they'd started were already spreading, the electrical sparks triggering explosions throughout the chemicals Mesogog had once used to create his monsters, creating dark blue chemical flames that spread through the laboratory, decimating the equipment around it and continuing to spread.  
  
" _MOVE_!" Conner roared, as the flames spread out behind them. Even their heightened reflexes, faster than the human norm due to both their combat training and their Ranger powers, proved barely adequate to travel through the base's corridors for the invisiportal without crashing into the walls or each other, the explosions behind them only becoming louder and more intense as they continued towards their destination. It seemed almost like an eternity until they saw the familiar green glow of the invisiportal before them, blissfully clear of tyrannadrones… they tightened their grip on the handles of their vehicles… squeezed the accelerators as hard as they could… charged towards the portal as fast as they could…

* * *

Then, mere moments later, they emerged in the forest, the faint sounds of an explosion rippling through the portal behind them before it closed behind them once and for all.

"Damn…" Ethan muttered, as the Rangers and Mercer stepped off their Cycles and exchanged glances with each other. "That was _way_ too close…"  
  
"True, but hey; look on the bright side, guys," Conner smiled, as he and Kira reached up to remove their helmets, walking over to stand beside each other as they turned to look at their friends. "The timeline's preserved, the Green Ranger's back where he should be, _and_ we get to keep our powers."  
  
" _With_ a few little extras, I might add," Kira pointed out, smiling up at Conner as she leaned up to kiss him briefly on the lips.  
  
"Yeah…" Doctor O. said, nodding in agreement as he, Trent and Ethan removed their own helmets to look around at each other, smiles on all their faces as they took in what had just happened.  
  
They'd won.  
  
When up against some of the most powerful and ruthless adversaries any Ranger team had ever faced- Conner and Kira in particular facing challenges from two _different_ kinds of bad guy in two totally different time periods-, they'd all not only won, but come through the fight with their powers and zords intact.  
  
If that didn't count as a _great_ victory, Conner would definitely like to know what did.


	21. Epilogue: When Legends Meet

" _Damn_ …" Ethan groaned the next day as he slumped into the sofa at Hayley's Cyberspace, the other Rangers gathered around him as they reflected on recent events. "Who'd have thought it, huh? After all that Mesogog put us through- to say nothing of what he wanted to do to the planet if he'd succeeded-, when he finally bites the bullet, nobody even knows we've won…"

Conner shrugged nonchalantly at his friend's comment, his arm around Kira as they both sipped at their milkshakes. Since returning to the present, the new relationship between the two of them had surprised many people at the school, but in general the two of them had avoided being the subject of too much gossip from anyone other than the likes of Cassidy, commonly in the form of bets regarding how long the pairing of the jock and the alternative rocker chick would last, but the two of them tended to ignore it.

"Eh, it's not like we got into this whole thing for the recognition; there's a reason they're called _secret_ identities, you know," he said dismissively, leaning over to kiss Kira lightly on the forehead as he put his drink back down. "Besides, in my book, I'd say we got a pretty good victory in the end; bad guys got their asses kicked, and the good guys walk away unscratched."

By dint of an unspoken agreement, nobody mentioned the woman who'd once been Elsa. Hayley had detected another Invisiportal activating as the team had fled Mesogog's fortress, suggesting that Elsa had escaped before it exploded, but none of them had managed to find where she'd gone afterwards and nobody had felt like trying to return to the island to confirm whether or not she'd actually managed to escape. As Ethan put it, this was one case where ignorance was bliss; so long as they didn't go back to the island, they didn't have to know for certain whether she'd escaped or whether she hadn't.

Maybe it wasn't the most heroic action to take, but none of them felt like actually trying to find out either way what had happened to her. They knew that they'd been in the middle of a fight and hadn't exactly had much choice or time available to them, but that still didn't make the knowledge that they'd left her behind much easier to bear.

 _Still, that's the life of a hero for you, I suppose_ , Conner mused to himself as he took another sip of his milkshake. _Sometimes the hardest part is learning that you can't save everyone_.

"So…" Trent said, after a moment's pause as the team took a moment to reflect on Conner's last statement, "what do we do now? I mean, we still have our powers, but there's no bad guys for us to use them against…"

Conner shrugged. "What any Ranger with their powers intact after the last bad guy's gone down, I guess; keep a hold of them and wait for the next team and their respective villain show up on the scene," he said as he put his milkshake down. "If they need help with their adversary- or if there isn't a Ranger team available to fight him-, we'll be there to deal with the situation; if not…"

He shrugged casually. "Well, at least we'll have some interesting mementos of our time here."

"Yeah, there's that," Tommy admitted, nodding in confirmation at Conner. "I mean, I've still got access to my old Zeo powers if I ever needed them; I just never saw a need to start using them again when I moved here."

"Not even when Mesogog showed up?" Ethan asked, looking over at their mentor curiously. "I would've thought you'd have been eager to get back into the suit in that kind of situation."

Tommy shrugged. "At the time it started I didn't know whether Mesogog and the others even knew I _was_ in town; I didn't see a need to start wearing the Red Zeo morpher again until I knew for sure whether or not I'd need it," he explained. "Besides, morphers work best when in a group of similarly-powered Rangers, whether the similarity is in where the power comes from or the colour it is; even if I'd tried using the Red Zeo Morpher, it wouldn't have been anything like as efficient as it had been back when I'd been active with the rest of the team."

"Oh, so that's why you just stuck with the Black Dino Gem all this time rather than use a bit of back-up, huh?" Conner asked, before he looked curiously at the coin on his belt. "Wait a minute; if the morphers don't work as well unless they're with others…"

"Just two working together is enough to unlock their full potential; you and Kira still have enough power available to you both to access the full scale of your powers," Tommy assured them, before he smiled slightly. "Besides, it looks like Ninjor gave you a few little extras that I _definitely_ don't think any previous Rangers have ever had."

"The double-power thing?" Kira asked, smiling slightly as she reached over to touch her Dino Gem with one hand before she reached down to gently trace the now-familiar shape of her Purple Power Coin. "Yeah, that's _definitely_ something we weren't expecting…"

"You mean you never thought about trying it with your Zeo morpher?" Conner asked, looking in surprise at Tommy.

Tommy shrugged. "From what you've told me, Ninjor's the only reason your powers are able to combine like that; whether it's because you already had powers when you visited him or because he deliberately altered the powers to work with each other, I don't know, but combining powers has never worked for me. Even when I once tried to combine my Zeo and Turbo powers it didn't work; we'd upgraded to the Turbo powers to deal with Divatox, and that was it for the Zeo powers."

"Did you ever-" Trent began, only to be stopped when Conner and Kira suddenly sat bolt upright in their chairs, staring in shock at something behind the other three Rangers.

"No way…" Kira breathed, as she turned to look at Conner. "It… it _can't_ be them…"

"Well, who else _could_ it be?" Conner replied, although his face retained a version of the same shock that now filled Kira's. "What are the odds of an identical group to… _them_ … showing up here so soon after we got back?"

"What?" Tommy asked, turning to look at whatever had left the Red and Yellow Rangers so shocked, only for his own jaw to drop as he took in the sight before him.

Standing at the counter, talking to Hayley, all of them apparently ignorant of the puzzled look the team's technician was giving them, as though she was trying to place where she'd seen them before, stood five figures- three men and two women, dressed in dark casual clothes and jackets of various descriptions. One of the men looked somewhat Asian in appearance, wearing loose black clothes that seemed to have been chosen specifically for freedom of movement, another had a vaguely Spanish look about him, and the third man struck them as being more of an intellectual, dressed in a dark blue shirt and trousers with a dark jacket. The two women presented a more vivid contrast; one was a dark-skinned woman wearing black trousers and a yellow top, while the other one was a pale-skinned blonde woman in a pink top and black skirt.

"…could tell us where we might find Conner McKnight and Kira Ford?" the man in the shirt said, looking inquiringly at Hayley. "We're… well, we knew them a long time ago, and we thought we'd-"

" _Billy_?" Conner, Kira and Tommy yelled simultaneously, drawing the gazes of all five of the new arrivals in the direction of the call.

"What the… _Tommy_?" Billy said, as he and the others stared incredulously at the team's Black Ranger, before their eyes fell on the people beside him. "Wait a minute; Conner and Kira? You found them _already_!"

"Of course I found them; I… I _made_ them what they are!" Tommy replied, smiling broadly at his friends as he walked around the sofa the Dino Thunder team had been sitting on; evidently he was taking care to watch their conversation in a public location.

"Wait a minute; _you_ gave them the Gems?" Rocky said, looking between the Black Ranger and Conner and Kira in evident shock, a broad grin on his face as he spoke. " _Damn_ … I know you said your power source wasn't from the same source as ours, but from _him_?"

"Hey, we were trying to _limit_ the information we gave you; telling Tommy then about Doctor O. here was risking a _bit_ more than we felt comfortable with," Conner replied, grinning broadly as he shook enthusiastic hands with the men in the group while Kira exchanged hugs with the women.

"Seriously, though, what _brings_ you guys here?" Kira asked, pulling back from Kat and Aisha in surprise. "I thought you'd all moved away after you… y'know, 'left' your 'jobs'."

"Well-" Kat began saying.

"Uh… could Trent and I get a cast list, please?" Ethan put in, raising his hand as he looked in confusion between his friends, his teacher and the new arrivals. "I mean, who _are_ these guys?"

"Ethan, c'mon; you don't recognise them from the historical footage Doctor O.'s shown us?" Conner grinned, as he walked around to stand behind Billy and Rocky, clapping his hands onto their shoulders as he looked at his friend. "Billy here is the guy who pretty much _started_ your area of our… job…, and Rocky here was the second guy in my area!"

Ethan and Trent's eyes widened in shock.

"Wait, you mean… you were _Rangers_?" Ethan hissed, leaning in to stare between the group of people before them. "As in, Doctor O.'s _first_ team of Rangers?"

"Well, only Billy here was on the team at that point; the rest of us were relatively newer additions to the team," Aisha explained, smiling slightly at the Blue Ranger before she turned to look at Tommy. "Seriously, though; _Doctor_ Tommy Oliver? No wonder we couldn't find you in the phonebook; who would have thought that _you'd_ end up with a doctrate?"

"Hey, it's not like I was _that_ bad back in high school," Tommy protested half-heartedly, the grin on his face evident as he turned to indicate Hayley with a further smile. "Which is not to say I didn't have help, of course. This is Hayley, by the way; she helped me get through graduate school, as well as giving us all a hand to develop our… equipment."

"Oh, so she knows about…?" Kat asked, waving a hand uncertainly.

"Technicolour Tommy?" Hayley put in, smiling slightly at the former Rangers. "Trust me, I know all about _that_."

"Actually, she's the 'tech expert' we mentioned to you guys while we were… visiting you," Kira explained, smiling at Aisha and Kat as she indicated the cybercafe owner. "She made our… bracelets…, helps monitor the… tools of the trade…, and she's come up with all kinds of equipment for us over the course of our time in the… business."

"Really?" Billy said, looking at Hayley with renewed respect. "You have my congratulations, then; those were some exceptional pieces of work."

"I do what I can," Hayley said, hiding her evident pride at praise like that from the Ranger tech-expert who'd set the standards for all of the following Ranger teams. "Glad to know I made an impression."

"Uh… not that it's not great to see you, but what are you even _doing_ here?" Trent asked, speaking for the first time since the old Rangers had arrived in the Cyber-Café. "I mean, it just seems like a bit of a stretch to think that you're here by chance…"

"You're right; we're not," Adam said, smiling slightly at the White Ranger before he glanced over at Tommy. "Just out of curiosity, when did your memories come back?"

"Uh… pretty much when Conner and Kira came… back…" Tommy began, trailing off mid-sentence as he realised what Adam was implying at the same time that Conner and Kira did.

"Your memories of our visit came back?" Conner said, him and Kira grinning at their old 'friends'- the friendship had been brief, but they'd shared so much that 'acquaintance' seemed woefully inadequate to describe their relationship- as they realised what they were saying. "So… you decided to drop in for a visit? Wasn't that a bit far; last I heard, Aisha ended up in _Africa_ after she retired from the game!"

"Eh, what can I say?" Rocky smiled, as he grinned at his successor. "We felt like making sure that you guys got back OK; we haven't really heard anything about the Dino Thunder Rangers since… well, since we remembered about you guys."

"Once we'd contacted everyone else we could- I have to admit, we never thought of Tommy as being a 'Doctor' so we missed his name in the phonebook-, we got together at Rocky's house, tracked down where the current Ranger team were, and got down here ASAP," Adam continued, as he looked curiously at Conner and Kira. "Anyway, now that we're here, care to explain why we have

"Oh, that?" Kira asked, shrugging casually as she smiled at the older Rangers. "Well, with the power we picked up in your time, coupled with a bit of back-up from these guys, we basically kicked the guy's ass, sent him back where he came from, and managed to beat our _main_ bad guy into the bargain."

"Wait a minute; you did all that just after you got _back_?" Aisha said, looking in surprise at her successor. "What do you mean, you sent the Green Ranger back where he came from? How did he get here? Why did your villain bring him here in the first place?"

"And who _was_ your villain anyway?" Adam added, looking inquiringly at the team before him. "I mean, beyond his apparent theme of creating monsters out of just about any kind of animal or whatever, the reports didn't really say much about what he was trying to _do_ in the first place."

"That's… kind of a long story, really," Ethan replied, looking at his predecessor with a slight smile on his face. "If you've got time for it…"

"You'll tell it to us?" Kat asked, smiling slightly at the current Blue Ranger. "How could we say no to a chance to learn how the new team does it?"

"Come on, then," Tommy said, indicating the chairs behind them. "Let's sit down, have a few cups of coffee, and talk about how we kicked ass to come out on top once again, huh?"

"The chance to hang out with the new guys?" Rocky grinned as he sat down opposite Conner and Kira, smiling slightly at them as he did so. "How could we refuse?"

As the rest of the 'old guard' joined them around the table, Conner, Kira, Ethan and Trent exchanged glances with each other, and smiled slightly at each other.

It hadn't been an easy task getting to this point, but, with some help from the past, the threat to the present had been neutralised, four young people had become part of a legacy that they'd never imagined, and two of their number- thanks to a rather interesting… trip- had come together in a way that they could never have done without their involvement in this legacy.

As the past and present Rangers sat down around a table, Hayley already preparing a round of milkshakes and coffee for them, Conner and Kira exchanged a slight smile at the thought of what might be coming up for them in the future, what with their renewed friendship with Doctor O.'s old team and the powers and abilities they still retained even after the main crisis had passed.

They may not be able to predict what was going to happen in the future, but they could be sure of one thing; just because the fight against Mesogog was over didn't mean their time together would end. Whenever the time came for a new threat to be vanquished, or whenever the world found itself in danger and needed somebody to fight for those who couldn't fight for themselves…

They were Rangers, now and forever, and they would remain that way whenever there was a need for them to go back to action.

 _Plus, of course_ , Conner mused to himself, as he leaned over to briefly kiss Kira's forehead as Doctor O. began to explain how the Rangers had acquired their powers in the first place, _we get each other to remind us of the whole experience into the bargain_.

His time as a Ranger may have begun with him as a reluctant participant in the legacy, but now that it was officially over, he found himself grateful that he and Kira would always have each other to remind themselves of their time together.


End file.
